Scheming is never a good idea

Judges 21: ¹⁸ We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’¹⁹ But look, there is the annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh, which lies north of Bethel, east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

²⁰ So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards ²¹ and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. 

²² When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.’”

²³ So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

^-------

²⁵ In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

============

Holding my breath and wishing everything would go well, I sat next to my potential buyer. He drove around the parking lot and everything seemed to work just fine.  He agreed to give me the maximum asking price and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I mean just a couple of week prior, the car stopped on the side of the road.  “It’s not my problem anymore” I thought to myself as I handed him the keys.  He called me two weeks later asking if I knew the car had major issues. “What [lie] should I say to this guy to get him off my back?”

• There is a way that seems right to me that is not.
• There is a path that is very wide and sometimes I choose to remain on it.
• There is a pile of money that sometimes drives my deepest decisions.

It seems like when I want to do something wrong, I can find a crowd to support my efforts.  They will look and act like me and I can do as I please because everyone else is doing it this way. BUT GOD wants something different.

• GOD wants me to follow HIM no matter how many people agree to do wrong.
• GOD wants me to do what’s right not what’s popular.
• GOD wants me to understand HIS plan instead of making up my own.

There is a way that seems right to a man, BUT GOD’s way in infinitely above mine.

• Are you thinking of a gimmick to bring people to GOD?
• Are you worried that your efforts are failing?
• Can you allow GOD to thin your tools and grow you HIS way?

Will I do “anything” for money?

Numbers 22: ¹⁵ Then Balak sent other princes. They were more important than the first ones. And there were more of them. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam. They said,

“Balak, the son of Zippor, says, ‘Don’t let anything keep you from coming to me. ¹⁷ I’ll make you very rich. I’ll do anything you say. Come. Put a curse on those people for me.’”

¹⁸ But Balaam gave them his answer. He said, “Balak could give me his palace filled with silver and gold. Even then, I still couldn’t do anything at all that goes beyond what the Lord my God commands.

============

Selling drugs or stealing never crossed my mind. I always felt hard work was the key to amassing wealth. I started in corporate with a prayer asking for “success.” Along the way I would pray here and there but as I got promoted higher and higher, my prayers became shorter and more absent.

Soon my attendance at church or serving events became sparse. I mean I had a lot of responsibility and I have to make this pile of money. Hard work isn’t bad is it?

·         Seeking money may make me forget GOD’s commands.
·         Seeking money may make me forget GOD wants me to rest on occasion.
·         Seeking money may make me forget GOD owns everything anyway so I should not worry about finances.

GOD feeds the sparrows and HE watches over me. HE doesn’t want me so desperate for money that I will compromise my relationship with worshipping HIM and serving those HE sends me to. HE wants me to be able to say “No” even if the money seems great.

How do I know this? I recently took an assignment that pushed away any quiet minute I could spend with GOD. This troubled my SPIRIT and left me with no rest. I was paid well but had no peace. This passage reminds me that no amount of money is worth losing my peace with GOD.

·         Are you losing sleep trying to make money?
·         Have your financial worries piled up so high that you have forgotten GOD owns everything?
·         Will you ask GOD what HE wants you to do or say?
·         Can you stop compromising your beliefs to follow what GOD will have you do today?