Judges 2

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?  Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

Judges 2:2-3

Chapter one listed out several Canaanites of the land that the Israels failed to drive out, but rather put them under tribute.  The Lord had previously commanded them (See Deut. 12:3) to destroy their places of worship and their names utterly from the land of Canaan, which they did not do.  For whatever reasons, Israel left them intact. God explains because of their disobedience in this, He would not go with them to drive out the rest of the inhabitants, but rather, the gods and the peoples that they left behind would later become a snare to them, a rift in the relationship between them and God.

Many times I have wondered at the many hobbies and entertainments in my life, though none of them being sinful in themselves, still manage to lure my heart and thoughts away from God.  Instead of spending time in the Word and enjoying the Lord, I would rather spend time with hobbies and whatever amusing thing.  From a point of wisdom, I cannot imagine looking back at my life and wishing I had spent more time amusing myself in hobbies.

How much does this passage correlate with modern day amusements in the Christian life? Because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, we are able to be God’s covenanted people, forgiven of sin and secure in hope.   While our souls cannot be forfeit to vanity, our testimony can.

How important is your testimony?  Because of the poor testimony left by the Israelites, their children were idolaters.  God forbid my amusements would ever cause the heart of my little ones to stumble and even turn away from the Gospel because daddy’s heart was clearly wrapped up in worldly things.

It is absolutely right to remove idols and guard against them.  Our heart belongs to God and has fathers and pastors, we would do well to lead people away from idols rather than let them linger.

Does that mean absolute adherence to this principle says one should move to become a hermit?  The passage in Joshua is not talking about amusements, but rather idols.  Other scriptures also warn against a variety of lusts that essentially drown your spiritual life, even to the point of being damned for unbelief.

“ But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”  1 Timothy 6:9

I think a person is wise to take regular fasts from the world to concentrate on the Lord.  Jesus showed the disciples how to pray and spend time with God regularly.  He also spoke radical action against whatever caused a person to sin, even metaphorically cutting off the hand or gouging out the eye. So if amusement is causing one to sin, be done with it and cast it away.

But what if one’s amusement could potentially be a trap and a snare for one of these little ones?  It would be all too easy to just say, get rid of everything and do nothing that would compromise. God help me, protect my family and your church.