Thorns in Your Side

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 I swore to give to your ancestors. 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? And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’” (Judges 2: 1-3)

God had been very clear in His instructions to His people. They were to enter the land and completely destroy the inhabitants. He gives them this command over and over and tells them the consequences of disobedience. Seems simple enough. But then again, people. Yesterday, we examined God giving humans a free will and the ability to choose. Today, we see the consequences of making a bad choice. Israel had been warned of the results of disobedience and would now reap the bitter harvest. The first chapter of Judges lists the failures of the tribes in their quests to take the land and remove the people. Over and over, they did not obey God and left the inhabitants of the land in place. As a consequence, they would intermarry and find their children drawn away to worship other gods. (which were no gods at all)
God tells them that as a result, He would not drive them out Himself and that they would be "thorns in their sides and a their gods would be a snare to them". For the generations to follow, their disobedience would bring heartache to the children of Israel. Verse 5 of Judges 2 tells us that after the people were told this that they wept aloud, and they called the place Bokim (which means weepers). The people realized their failure and that their lives and their children's lives would be impacted by their unfaithfulness and they wept.
Whenever we decide to reject Gods' command and choose to follow our own desires, we suffer. An example of this is divorce. We know that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), but humans choose to ignore Gods' will and choose to divorce. I have experienced divorce in my family. The pain and suffering that my brothers and sister have experienced is heartbreaking. I have seen the effects of their divorces on their children. Everyone suffers, everyone weeps. On the other hand, I have seen people work to save a marriage at all costs. I have seen the blessing that they receive and the example they set for their children. Everyone rejoices, everyone is blessed.  When we follow Gods' commands, we benefit and our children are blessed. When we disobey God, we pay the price and in many circumstances the next generation suffers as well. These things become thorns in our sides and a snare to us.
As Christians, we know that forgiveness is available through Jesus. We are confident that if we repent of our sin, God is faithful to forgive. (1 John 1:9) What we must understand is that God does not take away the consequence of our sin. Just like the Israelites, we will live with the results of our choices. Certainly, we can minimize the negative outcome of our actions by responding as God would have us do. If I steal something, return it. If I lie, correct the lie by telling the truth. If I hurt someone, apologize and fix the hurt if possible. You get the idea. While sin is forgiven, the consequence remains; but our actions can mitigate the consequences.
May we grow to understand that God always, always has our best interests in mind. His commands are for our benefit and not some arbitrary checklist for His amusement. He loves us and wants our lives to be blessed. Jesus said "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly". (John 10:10) He wants us to have the abundant life, both here and hereafter. May God bless us as we deal with the thorns in our sides.