SCRIPTURE: Judges 9
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, `Come and be our king.’ The thornbush said to the trees, `If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’ [Judges 9:14-15]
I once heard a quote, “give alcohol and inch, and it will become a ruler”.
The lesson here, and in Jotham’s parable, is – be careful who you ally yourself with, for it may come back to haunt you.
By choosing the murderer Abimelech as their king, the people of Shechem were courting disaster.
If we choose to partner with sinners, we will experience the consequences.

But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered. [John 19:15]
Its hard to imagine the Jewish leaders saying this.
But they were ultimately loyal to the thornbush, and in the end they were pricked by that thornbush (the fall of Jerusalem, AD 70).
If we choose to partner with sinners, we will experience the consequences.

Where does our allegiance lie?
If I allow any other person or force or object or experience to run my life, it will ruin me.
Even myself, if I choose to be loyal only to myself, I will eventually crash.
How many people have given themselves over to something – alcohol, gambling, sex, possessions, causes – that at first seemed harmless, but eventually took over their lives?
How many people have ruined their lives?

Sin is an awful taskmaster.
It will use and abuse us, and eventually toss us.
Sinful behaviours and sinful relationships are destructive.
They seem so good at the time, but in the end fire comes out from them and they consume us.

I hear in this passage a warning, be careful what you give yourself to.
Better to give yourself to the Lord, than to any other ‘thing’.
Those who seek the Lord will find life, but those who seek elsewhere, only discover death.
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. [Romans 2:7-8]

PRAYER:
Lord, these are just words to me, but You are showing me how they actually apply to me, to the idols that I cling to, to the things that I am loyal to.