Our society is always on the lookout for a “deal.” We want the best price on that new car. We bargain for the best interest rates. And if there is a sale? We throw all our responsibilities aside to be the first one there.
Sometimes we find the deal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We don’t want the stripped down new car offered in the ad, and soon the dealer begins tacking on extras. Those spectacular interest rates come with fees and extra charges. That sale? The long lines and the poor selection burst our bubble faster than a needle in a bathtub.
Do we ever try to cut deals with our salvation? Do we become so complacent that we no longer see the enemy as an enemy, one that needs to be cast from our sight with no lack of vigor?
Israel was a great power in 1195 B.C. She had trusted God, and under his leading, she had broken the back of the Ammonite nation, crushing her sworn enemy into the dust.
Yet, Israel allowed a remnant to remain.
In 1095 B.C. Nahash the Ammonite surrounded Jabesh-gilead, a city of Israel, demanding that God’s people become his servants. Israel’s old enemy had returned to haunt her. The elders of Jabesh were frightened and cried, “Make us a deal, and we will serve you and your people.”
Nahash’s condition was to thrust out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh, making them useless in battle.
Sin does that. It suddenly comes upon us, surrounding us, and we feel we have no way out. We start looking for the best deal possible, in order to make the most of the situation. We must remember that any deal with the evil one is a rotten deal, no matter how appealing it looks.
We should do as the city of Jabesh did. They cried unto their Israelite brothers, and the Spirit of God kindled Israel’s anger. In 1 Samuel 11:11 we read that the Ammonites were destroyed so that no two of them were left standing together.
When the devil offers us a deal, we should call in reinforcements and crush him without a second thought.
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