How many of you would like to run away.. to a bed.. to a small island? Anybody? Show of hands. >insert my hand here<
That was me today. Grouchy. Talking to IT all day, feeling the pressure of “leading” when we all know or most of you just how “unworthy” of a candidate I am to be leading people anywhere, especially to Jesus. Right? Right.
ANYWAY. Let me get to the point. Problems. Anybody else got 99 and counting? >insert my other hand<
SHEW… did Judges  just slap me in the face today. I was minding my own business… reading my daily read dreading it a little because what is really good to see in the Old Testament book Judges? after a long day of trying to just get it “right” on the computer.. and BOOM. I’ll show you exactly what there is to see in a droopy Old Testament book, Katie. There they were…again. Words jumping off the page.
So back to the question. A small island sounds good, right? Anybody?
Judges 2 talks about how the Israelites served the Lord in the time of Joshua. He had delivered them from the enemy and life was good and people were finally acting right.  Then Joshua died and the kids of those ancestors essentially started acting like straight fools.
“After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel” Judges 2:10
God was angry and so things got hard. The harder they got, the more the people rebelled. They refused to give up the way they were acting, the stubbornness. They just carried on how they were living, reckless and careless. Then it started to hurt. Ever been there?
Sin always, ALWAYS brings captivity.  It is deceiving. The fish never thinks about being stuck on a hook when it is after the bait. It swims for what it wants; it swims for itself. Satan hides the hook.  We are self seeking people… making allowances for our behaviors, seeking what we want (the bait) instead of what we need, Jesus.. only to find that our sin has left us snatched up by a hook or 99 hooks of mess.  of problems. of pain. and it follows us, guys. We cannot run from it.
We must constantly be on guard from ourselves… always setting our hearts on evil things. Y’all we can only chase after something so long before God finally says “Okay girl, go’on get it… but you gone take all that comes with it too.” And so He allows it. He says here ya go, you asked for it, have it. and so we want to run away..
Bad news y’all.. running away gets you nowhere.  We should never count on sanctification by relocation; where ever you go… you take YOU with you. and all those old problems with new shelves. A new environment doesn’t necessarily mean a new attitude. New perspective does.
I don’t know what your problems are; I just know what mine were and I thought I knew how to fix them.  Turns out I was chasing a baited hook, luckily He saw fit to use my mistakes for good. I must become less so He can become more. Listen, girls.. ladies.. readers… Evil is everywhere, Satan is watching quietly, and he is dressed in the cutest shoes. Sin is appealing. Chase the right hook because God will test you and I pray you don’t sink.