Sin Cycles

Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so. And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. Then the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He said, "Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, - Judges 2.16-20

Israel’s refusal to listen to the God sent judges had a serious consequence related here. This section is a preview of what is going to happen for the whole book. There is going to be a series of seven cycles that they go through. All that really differs in the oppressor and deliverer and sin. Here is how it goes.

Sin

Slavery

Supplication

Saviour

Silence

The people don’t listen to God and fall into sin. Because of their sin they become slaves to another nation. Once they are there that pray for help (supplication). God answers by sending them a deliverer (saviour) and they fall back into a period of silence. Soon the silence is broken by another time of sin and the whole cycle starts all over again. Seven times Israel goes through the same cycle. They could have broken it at any time by just listening to the God sent judge.

We are not a lot different today. We too can get caught in the trap of repeating the same sin cycles.

We are coasting along and because we are not listening to the word of God we slip into sin. If we still don’t listen that sin becomes a part of our way of life. We may not fail every day, but we always eventually slip back. We finally get fed up and we ask God for forgiveness and help. God sends the help and life goes back to normal, until the next time we ignore the word of God and slip back into sin, sometimes the same one.

There is only one way to break out. We are not going to escape until we have a heart change and truly listen to and obey the word of God. We can’t even do that on our own. We must have the help of the Holy Spirit as we ‘submit our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.’

We avoid the cycles as we listen, trust, and obey.