When a society heads down the moral spiral, is it the women who suffer the most?
Today men and women believe they can do anything and live any way they want without consequences. Yet, the Bible presents a very different picture.
And one way or the other, every one of us proves the Bible to be true. We can choose to sin, but we don’t get to choose the results. Sometimes the consequences are built-in and other times the God who will not be mocked chooses them for us. But is it possible that it’s the women who suffer the most when sin has free rein?
Today’s Readings:
Judges 17-19
Psalm 51.7-11
Proverbs 14.33-35
Luke 18.24-43
Do Women Suffer the Most When Sin is Rampant?
Judges 17-19 & Proverbs 14.33-35:
“Everyone Did What Was Right in His Own Eyes”
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (v. 17.6).
God repeated this verse in chapter 21.
In fact, this is the theme of the book of Judges. The stories it contains give us a graphic picture of the moral condition of the nation as a result and its consequences.
In today’s reading, we meet Micah (chapters 17-18), a man who steals from his own mother. She doesn’t seem to take her son’s behavior very seriously. Instead, she takes the money he returned and uses it to make idols so he can set up his own personal shrine.
Next, we meet a corrupt priest, a man looking out for what was good for him, not what God had called him to do or what was right. He allowed himself to be hired out as Micah’s personal priest then left when he was offered a better deal.
Then there is the sad story of another priest and his concubine who are on a journey home. When they stop to lodge for the night, the men in the city attempt to rape the man. And just as in Sodom, the priest and another man attempt to pacify them by offering them a young virgin girl and the priest’s concubine. As John MacArthur says in his notes, “This is unthinkable weakness and cowardice …”
But the story didn’t end there. The men of the city took the priest’s concubine and repeatedly raped and abused her. She died on the threshold of the home where the man who should have protected her, apparently slept through the night with little concern for her (Jud. 19.22-30).
When a society heads down the moral spiral, it seems it’s often the women who suffer the most. Even, in our freewheeling society where men and women believe they can do anything they want without consequences, many women end up in difficult, even painful, circumstances, along with their children. There are numerous ways we see this played out.
How This Plays Out Today
Today, cohabitation among unmarried couples is epidemic, even among those who attend church. As I talk to people through counseling and other situations, most seem to believe it’s no big deal. They are sometimes shocked that anyone would tell them it is wrong. After all, “everyone does it!”
Some of them claim they are engaged as if that makes it right. But the truth is the Bible condemns all sex outside of the covenant of marriage. And even if they do eventually marry (often they don’t), the divorce rate for couples who have lived together is much higher than for those that don’t.
Children from these relationships all too often grow up in broken homes without the support of a father or worse with a series of their mothers’ partners. Their mothers often have children from multiple fathers creating all kinds of rivalries, resentments, and confusion.
Many women struggle financially, as well. There are untold numbers of single moms struggling to make ends meet. Some as a result of their own choices, but sometimes through no fault of their own when husbands abandon them.
Many women seek abortions because they feel they have no other choice and live with the painful consequences of that decision for the rest of their lives. Others are caught up in drug abuse, prostitution, and sex trafficking. And many go from relationship to relationship, never finding the peace and contentment God wants to give them.
Verse 34 in our Proverbs reading says:
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Just as sin was a reproach to the nation of Israel, so it is to our nation today. Let’s pray that God would help us be salt and light to those who, just as in the time of the Judges, are doing what is right in their own eyes.
Is It True?
But is it true that women suffer more than men when sin is rampant? In some ways, possibly. Yet, we should never think that God gives men a pass.
Galatians 6 tells us:
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 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.
While it may not seem as obvious early on, the effects of sexual and other sins take a toll on men, as well. There are financial consequences as many pay child support to multiple women (as they should). Even when they marry later, families juggle visitation, different parental standards, financial strains, resentment, jealousy among the children, and more. Fathers are sometimes prevented from having any relationship with their children and children become pawns in an ongoing war between their parents.
Being sexually promiscuous makes it harder for men and women to enjoy a genuine one-flesh relationship if and when they do marry. There are trust issues because in our hearts we know that if our partner was willing to sin before we married, what makes us think he or she won’t do the same after we’re married? It, also, leads to a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases and various kinds of cancer in both men and women.
But the worst consequences for all of us are spiritual. 1 Corinthians 6.18 says:
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
Jesus Our Only Hope
But for all of us, the answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no sin or sinful pattern of life that the gospel doesn’t cover. There is forgiveness available to those who turn to Him in genuine repentance.
For those who belong to Him, God promises to use the worst of our choices and circumstances for good as He conforms us to the image of His Son. That does not mean He always removes the consequences. Instead, He will give us the grace to deal with them in ways that cause us to grow if we humbly submit to Him and learn to live His way.
Today’s Other Readings:
Psalm 51.7-11:
The Good Shepherd & Broken Bones
Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice (v. 8).
If you want to read an incredible commentary on Psalm 51, you might want to get the book Whiter Than Snow by Paul Tripp.
The section on verse 8 is too long to share with you here, but it reminded me of the way shepherds in Biblical times sometimes dealt with wayward lambs. If they kept running away, the shepherd knew sooner or later they would be eaten by a predator, so after repeatedly bringing them back to the fold, he would break one or more of their legs so they could no longer run. Then he would gently carry that lamb wrapped around his neck and shoulders. As the legs healed, the lamb would grow close to the shepherd and no longer want to run away.
Sometimes God has to use difficulties in our lives—broken bones if you will—to keep us from wandering away from Him. When that happens we need to see them as part of His redemptive love for us because, ultimately, the safest place for us to be is close to the Great Shepherd.
Luke 18.24-43:
Riches and Salvation
How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God (v. 34b)!
We’ve talked about it before but it is so easy for us to get comfortable and neglect our relationship with God. Riches can add to the problem because we have the means to solve many of the problems God wants to use to show us our need for Him. Too often it’s only when a trial comes that we can’t “fix” that we turn to and draw close to Him.
What About You?
Is there something in your life that is “right in your own eyes”? Something you’ve justified because “everyone is doing it”? Maybe compared to what other people are doing, it doesn’t seem like such a “big deal”? But we must remember that our standard is not other people, but Christ!
When God convicts us of those things, may we be quick to repent and turn back to Him so we’ll be saved from the hardship of “broken bones” down the road.
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll look at sin’s invisible hooks and discuss the battle for truth and religious liberty. We’ll also pose the question, “If others were to call you by your character, what would your name be?”
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss any of them.
If you would like to receive a FREE downloadable and printable Bible study through the book of Mark, you can click here for more information.
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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