How many, seemingly, small compromises and decisions turn out to reap deadly consequences in our marriages, our parenting, or our thinking? What small things can turn our lives in directions we never intended?
Welcome, to “God’s Word Day by Day” where I blog through the Bible in a Year. I hope you’ll join me every day. If you’re not already signed up, you can do it here. This year I’ve added a couple of new features. First, check out the “Free Resources” tab at the top. You’ll find a downloadable, printable PDF with “Going Deeper Study Questions” for each day’s post. And … this year you’ll find the daily “Bible in a Year” posts on YouTube. The daily emails now have a link to both the Soul Survival posts here and the YouTube videos. I hope you’ll sign up. (If you already receive them, no need to sign up again.)
Today’s Readings:
Genesis 33 & 34
Psalm 9.1-5
Proverbs 3.21-26
Matthew 12.1-21
Small Compromises
Genesis 33 & 34:
The Course of Our Lives
Have you ever thought about how “small things” can set the course of your life?
Just as James said the tongue acts like the rudder on a ship (Jas. 3.4-5), other small things can have a profound effect. Small decisions, small compromises, small indulgences, small thoughts, and what we consider “small” sins can affect our lives and the lives of those we love sometimes in tragic ways.
In chapter 33 Jacob, now called Israel, continued on toward home after the reunion with his brother Esau twenty-plus years after he left home. But on his way, Jacob set up temporary homes first in Succoth and then in a town named Shechem.
In chapter 34, Jacob’s daughter Dinah decided to go into town “to see the daughters of the land.” She ended up being raped, which in turn, lead to the brutal slaughter of all the men in the city of Shechem. Even though the young man who raped her, also named Shechem, professed his love for and desire to marry her afterward, it didn’t change what had been done.
Small Compromises & Indulgences
The text says Dinah wanted to see the daughters of the land. I don’t know the reason, but she was a young woman. Maybe she wanted to see what was in fashion, how they dressed, how they wore their hair. Maybe she didn’t just go “to see,” but to be seen. Dinah, possibly 15 or 16 at the time, appears to be Jacob’s only daughter. Was she the apple of everyone’s eye? Was she spoiled? Did her parents have trouble saying “no”? Did they indulge her? The text doesn’t say.
While it is possible she left the camp without her father knowing, it’s unlikely she did so without her mother’s knowledge. How did she end up unsupervised in a pagan city?
A Spoiled Son
And what about Shechem?
2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. 3 His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”
After he raped her, he claimed it was about love and said, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”
He sounds like a son who was accustomed to getting what he wanted. He thought he could just take whatever he wanted, in this case, Dinah and her innocence. But there would be deadly consequences.
7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. 9 And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. 10 So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.”
11 Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as a wife.”
Deceit & Influence
13 But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14 And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. 15 But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised.
18 And their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was more honorable than all the household of his father.
The word “honorable” is translated “respected” in the NASB. It comes from a root word meaning “to be heavy, weighty, or burdensome.”
It doesn’t mean he was respected in the best sense of the word, but that he was influential. Daddy’s boy carried a lot of clout! That may explain why he and his father were able to convince all the men of the city to be circumcised.
25 Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. 26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled.
Our Small Choices
Our “small choices,” too, if not filtered through God’s principles, can lead to all kinds of consequences.
When we spoil our children and try to give them everything they want, it can result in an entitlement attitude.
Many of our children today think they are entitled to the latest in technology, a nice car to drive, all the latest fashion items, and the freedom to come and go and use those things as they please.
What kind of adults, what kind of husbands and wives are we setting them up to be? If a son or daughter is given everything he or she wants and is allowed to think “it’s all about me,” how can we expect them to suddenly be husbands and wives who live out Philippians 2.3-4 by preferring others as more important than themselves? Instead, they have been conditioned to be selfish and demanding.
Small Compromises & Big Changes
Even as a nation or society, we can make seemingly small compromises that lead to a complete overturning of values. Look at the progression in our TV viewing for an example. When the I Love Lucy Show first appeared, Lucy wore pajamas and she and Desi slept in twin beds. Prudish by today’s standards … maybe … but look at prime-time TV today! We didn’t get there overnight. It was a series of small changes!
The theory of evolution has gradually become accepted as fact because of a steady stream of “small” untruths. Try to find a children’s book about dinosaurs without the words “millions and millions of years ago.” Small seeds are planted from the time children are old enough to listen to a story or pick up a picture book.
Take the area of homosexuality. We’ve gone from it being illegal, to not mentioned, to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” to tolerated, to accepted, to a “right.” And it isn’t over yet!
And how did we get from marriage as a sacred institution to no-fault divorce or simply living together? One small step at a time!
What Small Compromises Could Be Setting the Course of Your Life?
What “small” compromises, “small” indulgences, and “small” decisions are setting the course of your life and your children’s?
Let’s pray that all of us will look first at our own lives. Where are we making “small” compromises which are not pleasing to God? What are we allowing our children to do so they can get ahead in school, have friends, be popular, or because we don’t want them to be deprived or not be “our friends”? Let’s be faithful to God and, “… make it our aim (our goal) … to be well pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5.9) instead of trying to simply please our children.
Today’s Other Readings:
Psalm 9.1-5:
Being in a Small Minority
Sometimes when we take a stand for what is right, we find ourselves in a small minority, but we need to remember what this psalm tells us—that God maintains our right and our cause (Ps. 9.4). Paul echoed that thought when he wrote:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom. 8.31).
Proverbs 3.21-26:
Wisdom & Discretion
This passage says that wisdom and discretion will cause us to walk in our way securely and protect us from the onslaught of the wicked. Imagine how wisdom and discretion could have prevented the sad sequence of events in Genesis 34.
Matthew 12.1-21:
“Caught” Doing Good
In this passage, the religious leaders wanted to “catch” Jesus doing something that they considered illegal, like healing someone on the Sabbath. I know some of you are in jobs where you live with the concern that someone will “catch” you speaking the truth or sharing the gospel. While we need to obey those who are in authority over us, that authority stops if we’re being asked to sin. I pray that God will give you the wisdom to know where that line is.
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about the unpardonable sin, whether God can redeem the past, how to respond to private temptations, and whether God tests us and how that might look.
I hope you’ll join me and, if you haven’t already, take the challenge to read through the Bible with me this year. Even though we may do it imperfectly or miss a day here and there, I find when we set it as a goal, we read far more of God’s Word than we would otherwise. I know we all get far too much email these days but having the daily devotion pop up in your inbox each day can serve as a general reminder to get into God’s Word. It goes out at 6 a.m. MST.
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Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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