The Encourager
“Reexamining Our Influences - by Jeff Curtis”
Reexamining Our Influences
By Jeff Curtis
In Psalm 106:34-36 we read a psalm that inspired commentary on the judges of the Old Testament. It tells us; “34 They did not destroy the peoples, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, 35 But they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; 36 They served their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, 38 And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. 39 Thus they were defiled by their own works and played the harlot by their own deeds.
The judge Jepththah was born an illegitimate child, was rejected by his family and community, and joined other young men like himself in raids in Tob (Judges 11:1-3). He became a military leader (Judge 11:11), led “a very great slaughter” of the Ammonites (Judges 11:32-33) and the Ephraimites (Judges 12:6). Why was his life such a disaster?
Judges uses the story of Jephthah to show what happens when the spiritual community is more influenced by the world than by the Lord. The psalmist placed blame for the dysfunction and sin on how the Israelites mingled with the nations, learned their practices, and served their idols. The inspired passage shows how the unfaithfulness of God’s people to His standards and to proper worship of Him leads to disastrous results.
The story of Jephthah demands that as Christians we reexamine the sources of our conduct and the objects of our worship. It points to the potentially dangerous outcomes for young people reared in an unfaithful community. God’s standards in the New Testament as well as the Old, call for strict loyalty to one God and to His patterns for the community. When Christians fail to live up to God’s expectations, the results can be a problem.
The story of Jephthah should prompt us to reevaluate the nature of our worship of the one true God and our willingness to follow the ways of God rather than those of the world around us.
Meditate on this:
Psalm 106:4-5
4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation, 5 that I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with our inheritance.
