Good Intentions

Good Intentions

Women Promising To Obey The Law

Read: Exodus 19:7-8; 24:3, 7

Jenna reached in the freezer and grabbed the carton of butter-pecan ice cream. She probably shouldn’t even have this stuff in the house. With her high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and family history of diabetes, her doctor had stressed the necessity of losing those extra fifty pounds. Jenna had promised him that she would make major changes in her diet. Oh well, she would just have a few bites while she read the paper. Fifteen minutes later, Jenna found the empty carton more depressing than the front page news. And I had such good intentions!

The Israelite women who promised to obey everything that God commanded also had good intentions. God had delivered them from slavery and displayed his power in miraculous ways. When God prepared to give his laws to Israel in written form, the people enthusiastically vowed to do whatever God commanded. The Israelites sincerely wanted to honor the One who had claimed them as his special people. On that promising day in the nation’s history, these women fully believed that they could carry out their promise to God. They had no idea how soon they would fall away from him and do the very things he had warned them against.

Even the best of intentions aren’t enough to help us avoid sin’s pull. However hard we try, we will never have enough strength of our own for godly lives. Often we find ourselves repenting of a sin only to repeat the same mistake again and again. The Bible warns that if we think we are standing up to temptation, we’re probably headed for a fall. When we understand our weaknesses, we can depend on God’s power. God doesn’t want us to make promises that we can’t keep; he wants us to rely on the promises he has made to us.

Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

1 Corinthians 10:12 (NASB)