God is our bulwark, the one who goes before us, the battering ram that drives the devil from our path and makes our way secure.
Still, sometimes he tires of our bumbling ways.
Judges 1 begins with the children of Israel asking of God, “Whom shall we fight first to gain our rightful inheritance in the land of Canaan?”
Yet Chapter 2 tells of a visitation of the angel of the Lord to his people. It’s not a happy occasion, either. He lambasts Israel for making a pact with the inhabitants of the land.
Israel had attempted to co-exist with the evil that occupied Canaan.
God knew that those who were not driven out would begin to infect his people who had come to conquer the land.
That’s what sin does to us. If we drive it into the mountains, but don’t vanquish it from our lives, it will eventually come down from the hills and contaminate us once again. We can’t make a pact with sin to only interact with us on Saturday nights. It has to be completely gone.
Israel wept with repentance at the words of the angel of the Lord. The place of their sorrow they named Bochim. It was a point of turning from their own ways onto the paths of almighty God.
The Word doesn’t tell exactly where Bochim was, but Bible scholars generally agree that the sacrifices offered to the Lord in repentance were carried out at Shiloh.
When God corrects us, and we see the error of our ways, it’s not enough to stay in our Bochim. We can be filled with contrition, and tears may flow, but an emotional response isn’t enough. We need to name our Shiloh, our place of sacrifice, and offer unto God that which offends him, so that he can excise it from our lives.
We need to let God become our bulwark once again.
When God tells us to wipe the slate clean, let’s make sure it’s completely clean.
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