We have reached a turning point in our sermon series through the Old Testament book of the Judges. It is a moment worth pausing to reflect.
There has been what seems like a pattern. Israel forgets the Lord their God, serves the gods of their surrounding culture, God mercifully puts them under oppressive rule and servitude (loving them too much to leave them comfortable in idolatry), Israel cries out to the Lord, He sends a judge to deliver them and there is ‘rest in the land’ for as long as the judge lives. The judge dies and the cycle starts all over again. It is a pattern all too familiar to Christians when we look at our own lives today.
At the end of Gideon’s life and rule as a judge, the text says that there was 40 years of rest in the land. But here we discover that this is no cycle. The people of Israel are not lapping around and around in circles. Rather, they are descending; spiralling downward and becoming less and less likely to return to the Lord their God. The text in chapter 8 gives a clue that something has gone too far. Up to this point Israel is described as whoring after other gods, namely Baal. Now it says that they ‘made Baal-berth their god’. This is the last time the text in judges will say that the land enjoyed peace. God’s people have given themselves over to the destructive behaviours that distance them from Him.
You and I are not cycling round and round the mountain. Instead, we are either spiralling up or down; becoming more or less likely to return to the Lord quickly. To say it another way, the decisions we make and the way we live our lives puts us on either a course toward the Lord our God or away from Him.
“The decisions we make and the way we live our lives puts us on either a course toward the Lord our God or away from Him.”
If only the sign posts were as clear for us along the way as they are looking retrospectively at Israel. Reading the accounts in Judges I find myself saying out loud, “Here we go again!” and “Oh, come on Israel!”. How obvious their folly! Just quit going after the Baals!
Who would choose to spiral away from God? How did it happen to God’s people in Judges and why does it still happen to us today?
Subtlety.
I reread C. S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters last night. Lewis writes a series of letters from Screwtape, a high-ranking Senior Tempter serving as Undersecretary of his department in the Civil Service of Hell. Screwtape writes letters to encourage and coach his young nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood has been assigned the task of delivering the soul of a man to hell. Letter 12 has Screwtape encouraging Wormwood to not try too hard. Settle for small, incremental ways of separating the man from “The Enemy”, i.e., the Lord his God. The young demon, Wormwood, is discouraged and would like to tempt his man with something more dramatic. Screwtape says,
“You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy.
It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one.”
And there it is.
Subtly spiralling away from the Lord your God. Decision after decision, moment by moment, in almost imperceptible ways and in virtually unnoticeable degrees we separate ourselves from Him.
Like Israel in Judges, I am walking a spiralling road. One that either makes me more or less likely to return to the Lord. If the road away from God was too steep or direct I would surely notice. If there were milestones or if the sign posts along the way were clear, I would take heed and return to my God. But the safest road to hell is a gentle slope, soft underfoot.
Pause. Take honest account. Gain your bearings and check your heading. Ask, “Am I spiralling gently toward the Lord my God or on the safest road to hell?”
