Based on Judges 4 (New King James Version)
“When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?’ And Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!’ So she said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh. And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon. Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left. However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, ‘Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.’ And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. Then he said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.’ So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. And he said to her, ‘Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ’ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, ‘Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.’ And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple. So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.”
Everything bad that happens in this world is because of sin, as a consequence of man’s fall. God had made everything good, but when man sinned, everything was affected, both man’s life and everything that surrounds them, without exception. The only thing that remains holy and unaffected is the kingdom of God, but everything else was corrupted by man’s sin. That’s why we have so many problems, complications, pain, and of course, even death. The consequences of sin are unfathomable, because everything affects another, and another, and another, forming an almost unending chain, a cycle of events that continues happening throughout time. This life is like an incredible collection of collisions where we affect ourselves and one another. It sounds chaotic, and it is, but up to a certain point. Because within that chaos, God limits repercussions precisely to preserve the inaccessible. That is the structure of the universe. Notwithstanding, sin corrupts and destroys everything we see and feel now in this life.
Following the explanation given, we many times cause our own problems thanks to our voluntary sin. Sometimes, we do suffer consequences from the sin of others. Of course, things happen that are not our direct responsibility, but many times, it is our responsibility, in one way or another. Not wanting to accept responsibility does not limit consequences. That is inevitable, and here is where we get into the passage we saw today.
We saw at the beginning that the children of Israel did again was what evil before the sight of the Lord. They had done evil before. God dealt with them, and a time of peace came. And as soon as things relaxed a bit, per se, they relapsed in their sin against God. And we see as a result the consequence of the Lord selling them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, where they were going through much hardship. The Word says that the Lord sold them to their enemy, and well, that is what they got for their sin. Rebellion and disobedience against the Lord only bring more problems. This world is imperfect and difficult as it is on its own, but adding on sinning directly against the Lord, that makes things even harder, especially when a person is aware of and knows the truth. This is a rule of the structure of this world, and therefore, irrefutable and inalterable: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Galatians 6:7-8. Sooner or later, all sin against the Lord brings consequences. There are people that believe that they are fine because things seem to turn out well in general, but that is the greater danger. It is preferable to see the consequences to our evil actions now because it gives us the opportunity to change (like the people of Israel did) before thinking that everything is fine and suffering eternal consequences where there is no more time to change, nor the possibility for repentance.
Now, does God want our destruction? This is what the Word says: “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, ‘If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?’ ’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” Ezekiel 33:10-11. God does not want man to be lost, but there also exists a point where mercy and divine protection ends, and the other side starts, that of consequence and punishment, depending on when. This is the issue: “Do you want to continue sinning against God until you encounter eternal punishment? Or do you wish to end with sin and turn to the Lord while there is still time, to be able to receive His blessing?” Lord bless! John