You know what they say about cancer, right?
You have to catch it early and surgically remove it from your body before it gets bigger and bigger and causes some real damage.
The same goes for ungodly people.
Those who the Apostle Paul calls out as being the sexually immoral and the drunkards.
We’re told to completely separate ourselves from such people.
I remember when I transferred to a new high school in the 10th grade, there was a certain group of kids I was warned to stay away from.
These kids had a reputation for heading to these illegal underground bars that served minors after school so they could get wasted on hard liquor.
One day, one of these kids invited me to go with them and I said yes.
I figured one time couldn’t hurt.
But that turned out to be too slippery of a slope for me.
Because one drunk escapade turned into many.
And soon after my grades started to fall.
One of my teachers pulled me aside and let me know in no uncertain terms he knew I was hanging out with those troublemakers.
He made it clear if I continued to do so, I was headed for trouble.
And deep down inside I knew he was right.
Honestly, there was a part of me that wanted to cut ties with those guys but I couldn’t.
Why?
Because I was afraid to tell them I didn’t wanna hang out with them anymore.
Also, since those guys were the cool dudes who got the chicks and could fight, I figured there were certain fringe benefits to be had by being associated with them.
Here’s the thing.
This situation was similar to Israel’s relationship with the Canaanites.
The Israelites knew from the beginning they weren’t supposed to enter into any kind of relationship with the Canaanites.
Heck, they were supposed to drive them completely out of the land.
However, they did the opposite and for the sake of “peace” allowed the Canaanites to stay in the land.
The result?
Before they knew it, they had begun embracing the pagan cultural and worship practices of their heathen neighbors.
And things even reached the point where intermarriage took place.
By then it was too late.
The unintended consequences of disobeying the Lord and letting the ungodly dwell in their midst resulted in the Canaanites becoming an even bigger and bolder pest compared to before the Holy War started under Joshua.
This was Israel’s condition at this time.
Keep this in mind as we begin our study of Gideon, the judge who represents the 5th cycle of rebellion, apostasy, oppression by a gentile nation per God’s punishment, then Israel crying out for help and the Lord responding by sending a deliverer.
And the big takeaway here remains the same: the ungodly are like a cancer that have to be COMPLETELY removed from your life or they will end up destroying you.
Leave a Reply