Taking care of business

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom. Song of Songs 2:15 It’s the little things.

In life, we are constantly told, “it’s the little things”. Maybe you hear people say, “I only worry about the big picture” or you have some people that only care about the little details. For the most part, I think that most people have a strong leaning toward one thing and must develop the other. In warfare, a good general will not just be concerned with tactics (the where) but, he will be concerned with logistics (the how), along with the who, what and why. He may say, We need to take this country, do we have enough ships, tanks, men, food, bullets? So, we find that life is not just about one battle, one decision, it involves many battles, many stopping points, many decisions along the way.

Yet, in the battles that we fight along the way in our lives, many times they are battles that had one starting point and in the process of time, we are dealing with the ramifications of that initial starting point. The time where we failed to “take care of business”.

If - we all want God to bless us, don’t we? We all want to have the blessings, we all want to live in the overflow of God’s promises. When we study the word of God, we find that there is always an “if” somewhere in there. It is either explicitly spelled out our it is implied. The first “if” that I find in the Bible is when God is talking to Cain about his attitude

Genesis 4:7 LEB

If you do well will I not accept you? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

This ought to tell us something. It ought to tell us and remind us that we have a part in this. We have a part in walking with God, we have a part in having faith, we have a part in believing, we have a part in a believing loyalty.

2. Judges 1:27-35

Judges 1:27–35 LEB

Manasseh did not drive out Beth-Sean and its towns, or Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanites were determined to live in this land. And it happened, when Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they never totally drove them out. Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in their midst in Gezer. Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived in their midst and became subjected to forced labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob, so the Asherites lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or Beth-anath, but lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them. The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain; the Amorites were determined to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy on them, and they became subjected to forced labor.

Verse 31 is a key verse in a a part of a chapter in the Book of Judges that read like a report card from school, and in this part of the chapter it’s not a very good report card. Especially Verse 31. Judges 1:31

Judges 1:31 LEB

Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob,

Remember report cards? When you think about it, a report card, tells where you have been, where you are and where you are going. This part of the report on the tribe of Asher was not good. It told of what they had not done, the past and it told of what was to come in the future yet, one day for the people of Israel, the past and the present met.

3. I Kings 16:29-34

1 Kings 16:29–34 LEB

Now Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah. Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. But Ahab son of Omri did evil in the eyes of Yahweh more than all who were before him. If it wasn’t enough that he went after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he also took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians. He went and served Baal and bowed down to him. And he built an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria. Ahab also made the sacred pole, and he continued to provoke Yahweh the God of Israel more than all the kings of Israel who were before him. In his days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho; at the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his younger sibling, he set up its gates, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.

So, we see that Ahab married Jezebel. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He may have had great political and military successes, but all of those successes were earthly, carnal not what matters to God. We find then that Ahab married Jezebel. Where was Jezebel from? Sidon. Who failed to conquer Sidon? Asher. Sidon became a powerful city/state in the ancient world. Famous for it’s maritime prowess (sailing) which helped to establish colonies and bring wealth through trade it was also famous for it’s purple dye. Yet, Sidon also imported it’s religion, mainly the worship of Baal.

Ahab marries Jezebel, who is from Sidon. She brings her prophets, her religion. God was not just going to sit on the sidelines. What does he do?

4. Elijah in Zarephath of Sidon:

1 Kings 17:8–16 LEB

Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “Get up and go to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to sustain you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath and came to the gate of the city. There was a widow woman gathering wood, so he called to her, and he said, “Please bring a little water for me in a vessel so that I can drink.” She went to fetch it, and he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, surely I do not have a cake, but only a handful of flour in the jar and a little olive oil in the jug. Here I am gathering a few pieces of wood, and I will go and prepare it for me and my son, that we might eat it and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do according to your word; only make for me a small bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me. Make it for yourself and for your son afterward. For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘The jar of flour will not be emptied and the jug of olive oil will not run out until the day Yahweh gives rain on the surface of the earth.’ ” So she went and did according to the word of Elijah; then both she and he ate with her household for many days. The jar of flour was not emptied and the jug of olive oil did not run out, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of Elijah.