Tag: Compromise

The Consequences of Compromise

Compromise has amassed quite a following for itself. We tend to see it as an almost-ideal solution to thorny problems. And often that is true. Often compromise is a great solution, but not always. We should not always default to compromising, instead assessing the situation and determining what course of action is most warranted.

A trivial example: some years ago my brother and his roommate were planning to make themselves some chocolate milk using a mix. They both poured glasses of milk and grabbed the chocolate sauce. But my brother’s roommate quickly realized that there wasn’t enough sauce for both of them to have a chocolate milk so it took it for himself. My brother said, “why not split it?” and his roommate replied, “Is it better for both of us to have bad chocolate milk, or one of us to have good chocolate milk?” My brother relented, seeing the truth in his logic. I would say that the Christian thing to do would have been to sacrifice my own pleasure and give the good one to my roommate, but in this case, my brother’s roommate was not a Christian.

In today’s reading we see a similar situation unfold; starting and ending with bad compromises. Numbers 33:55-56 reads:

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.

Numbers 33:55-56 (NIV)

Yet Solomon decides that rather than drive those who remain OUT of the land, they will instead be used as cheap labour. Cheap labour to build the temple of the Lord, no less! Again, God offers a warning that Solomon takes no heed of. And then at the end of today’s reading we see this:

Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 10:26 (NIV)

Which looks eerily similar to this:

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”

Deuteronomy 17:16 (NIV)

How long do you think you can disregard the commands, decrees, regulations, and warnings of the Lord before it finally does you in? How long before spiritual disaster, calamity, or even death come to you? This, dear friends, is playing with fire and it’s a bad idea. Don’t test the Lord. That is a fool’s game.

Conquest & Compromise

Today’s passage has us reading about the land allotments for Judah, Ephriam, and Manasseh. While passage like this with an inventory of town names that mean little to those among us who have never been to Israel or studied ancient geography. But! There is a very interesting pattern that emerges in today’s chunk.

Judah received their allotment of land, but could not drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem. And this despite the fact that the King of Jerusalem had already been captured and killed along with, presumably, many of his fighting men. Ephriam and Manasseh were also unable to remove the Canaanites from their allotments of land. Curiously, however, they were eventually able to subjugate the people as slaves.

Did the Israelites forget the command God gave them?

But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded,

Deuteronomy 20:16-17

Did the Israelites forget what they were able to do in Egypt despite being slaves? Did they forget what happened to Achar? Compromise might be a good way to mediate a dispute, but it is a terrible way to serve God! Watch over the coming months how things go with the Judges, and then the Kings, and then the Captivity. It’s so sad to watch the fall of the chosen people of God.

As a Christian, compromise is a concession to defeat. To compromise is to the wave the white flag at Satan and drop the drawbridge. It’s either conquer with Christ or be conquered by death. To compromise is to choose the latter.

Choose wisely.

Joshua 15:20-17:18 | 086-365

Not a Hoof!

The temptation to compromise can be a strong one. We feel that God has called us to do something and we push toward that goal, ultimately settling for most of it. That’s pretty good, right? Close enough.

Growing up, my mother often said (and I often quote her), “‘Good enough’ never is.”

We see that in the… negotiation between Moses and Pharaoh. Moses wants all everyone to go. Pharaoh says “No.” Moses pushes as the Lord instructs him to and Pharaoh says, “Ok, but just the men”. Moses pushes as the Lord instructs him to and Pharaoh says, “Ok, but no livestock!”. Finally, GOD pushes and Pharaoh (and the Egyptians) say(s), “Go! Oh, and also take our silver and gold!”

The first Passover didn’t involved Moses or Aaron waving their staffs or smacking the water, this one was all God. Moses, empowered and emboldened by the call of God took the ball to the 10 yard line (to use a football analogy), but it was God Himself who carried it in for a touchdown.

We often feel like we need to do it. We can accept that God tells us where He wants us to be, but we need to get there under our own power and strength. And when we feel like it’s on us, that’s when the temptation to compromise seeps in. We got so close, let’s just leave the livestock behind! Take the exit presented to us!

But Moses staunchly refuses. He knows God is going to see this thing through and fulfill His promise 100%. We need to have the same trust. God wouldn’t call you to go 100 miles if He really wanted you to go 93 miles. When you come to the end of yourself, that’s when the power, and strength, and glory of the Lord shines through. That’s when He carries us. So the next time you feel tempted to throw in the towel and settle for less than God has called you into… don’t deprive yourself of the fullness of His blessing, instead resolutely stand up and say, “Not a hoof can be left behind!”

Exodus 10-12 | 35/365