Confusion in Society (Covetousness)

2/26/2010 7:45 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                    Focus:  Confusion in society (Covetousness)

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Judges 18:1-2

 

          Message of the verses:  1 ¶  In those days there was no king of Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day an inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. 2  So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them, "Go, search the land." And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.”

            Chapter eighteen of Judges brings me into the third part in chapter eleven of “Be Available,” which is Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Judges.  Remembering that God has ordained the home, human government, and worshiping the Lord, I know move to the human government portion of chapter eleven. 

            Chapter eighteen of Judges is one of the most bazaar chapters that I find in the entire Bible, but it is in God’s Word and therefore must be studied. 

            The history of the tribe of Dan goes back to Genesis 30:1-6 where it is discovered that Dan was the fifth son of Jacob, and was born of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid.  It is remembered that Rachel could not have children for a long time and so because of the competition between her and her sister Leah in having children she gave Jacob Bilhah to have children for her and thus Dan was conceived.

            When the children of Israel came into the land God had given them all of the tribes were given a portion of land that the Lord wanted them to have.  Most all of the tribes drove out the Canaanites to a large extent, but the tribe of Dan could not drive out the inhabitants of the land God had given them.  I believe that this had to do in large part to a lack of faith in the Lord who had given them that land.

            Now because the Danites lack of faith in not conquering the land God gave them they moved north and at the time of the events in chapter eighteen they began to covet land that was not theirs and a few of the people of Dan made the same mistake that the children of Israel made long before, that is spying out the land.  This time it was spying out land that was not theirs, for it belonged to the tribe of Ephraim.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  James 4:1-3 speak of the sin of the Tenth Command which is not coveting.  “1 ¶  What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2  You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3  You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”  In a footnote by Warren Wiersbe her writes the following:  “It’s good to have the things that money can buy if you don’t lose the things that money can’t buy.”  These are very wise words, words that I need to follow and live my life by when it comes to how I handle money, or the things that I buy with the money that God has entrusted me with.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.    Trust the Lord in the handling of the things that I do with the money he has entrusted me with that I may use it for His glory.

 

2/26/2010 8:28 AM