SETTLERS

Today's Reading: Joshua 16-17

Key Verse: Joshua 17:13

And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

In the worship of their gods, the Canaanites followed evil practices such as killing their children and offering them as sacrifices. In their temples, as an act of worship, they committed fornication, adultery, pedophilia, perverted sexual acts.

We may want to ask ourselves, "How are we being influenced by the culture in which we live?" Do we tolerate more easily practices that violate God's laws for sexual behaviour? Does pedophilia produce a revulsion as it once did? Are we as horrified as we once were at the slaughter of the innocent little lives in abortion? Should these precious lives not have the protection of the state? Is there a general decline in personal and public moral standards? If we answer "Yes," then we are following the path of Israel. The stories of the moral decline of Israel every three or four generations should be a dire warning to us.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, we repent for tolerating moral rot in our generation. You are the Judge in the final analysis, and we are not. We must "hold the truth in love." However, we pray that we will, by Your grace, hold Your standard for human behaviour high, loving people unconditionally, and hating the sin that Your Word declares will ultimately destroy the people You love! We pray for youth in the face of the destruction of the values which sustained older generations in wars, financial collapse, and in family life. God, please help us to be loving and strong in our convictions on right and wrong. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

For more on today's reading, please visit 100words.ca