Failure to Comply

Failure to Comply

The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."

When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
Judges 2:1-5 NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

I made a deal with God and blew it. You see, I wanted to purchase a house. I made a list of what I wanted. I prayed over the list and asked God to help me choose the right house. “If this is the wrong house” I said, “then cause all the numbers on the contract to be wrong.” At closing, all the numbers were wrong. Like an idiot, I had the proper adjustments made and I bought the house anyway. My home is one hundred years old; it is beautiful with high ceilings, wide moldings, stained glass and lots of character. And, it is the wrong house.

Over the years, since the purchase, there has not been one home repair where I have not thought to myself, this is not what He intended for me. Have I asked for God’s forgiveness? Yes. Have I been blessed in this place? I don’t know. But I do know that I failed to comply with the agreement I made with God, and I am truly remorseful. I am not regretful because of the difficulties (or maybe the punishment) I have suffered. I am remorseful because I broke covenant with my friend, and my God.

Have you broken covenant with God too? How does one deal with that? In the above verse, the Israelites had an easy fix. Do what God said! Dismantle the faux-gods, repent, and stop making deals. But sometimes, the mess is such that one cannot simply dismantle and walk away. For example, what if you married the wrong person, spent all your money on the wrong thing, moved to the wrong area, have a child and realize that parenting did not solve your problems. What now?

I think the answer is so simple that it is easily overlooked. Say you are sorry and mean it. If you do not want to be sorry, ask God to give you a heart that understands your failure to comply. I know this will sound weird, but ask God to show you your sin, and his grace. If we only ask God to show his grace, we will take him and his gifts for granted. But, if we see our sin, we will also see the purpose of grace and no longer expect it because we deserve it. We can begin to expect it because God really is good. Then we can see that He never fails to comply with us.