Lesson 15: God’s Patient Love Puts Up With Our Continual Harlotry

Deuteronomy 31:16-17 – “And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured…”

When it comes to the issue of harlotry, or in other words, selling yourself out to the world, it is obviously something God does not like. What did the text say? Prostituting yourself before the world makes Him angry. Why? Because it is basically slapping God in the face after all He has done for us.

What happened to Israel after Moses’ warning in our verses above? All through the Old Testament we read time after time that Israel began to worship other gods.

Just as Moses had told them in our verses above, they would leave God, then they would get into trouble – as always happens when we leave God – and would begin to suffer. When their suffering became severe, they would cry out to God to save them and He would come to their defense. For a little while they would again be faithful to God and He would restore their good lives. Then they would again forget Him and chase after other gods.

Even in our world today we long to be like the person who seems to have all the things to make life comfortable. We want the things to make our lives easy. We want to be able to trust in our own wisdom and abilities to make a good life. But all around us we see the failure that is simply a part of all that exists here in this world.

 People of God, why are so many Christians still living for this world system? Why are so many giving all their time, treasure, talents and tongue to everything else in this world but God? Do we really think He does not see this?

The facts are, when we sell out to this world system again and again even after we have been saved, we are choosing a wasted, colorless life over God. We are choosing insanity over Christianity!

Put it in context. How would you feel if somebody did that to you? Be honest! If somebody treated us like that, we would do all we could to destroy them.

But God is not like us! He is Patient! And out of patience He not only forgives us of our sin but He puts up with our sin again and again and again! Every single day!

 If we ever get a taste of the depths of God's Love and His patience towards us, our lives can never be the same. This is the awesome message we get to tell others: "God not only exists, but through Jesus Christ people really can have an intimate personal relationship with the Creator of the universe before it is too late!"

Thought Question: Why do you think mankind is so sure they have all the answers to life?
Verse to consider: Psalm 94:4-7 - “They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, ‘The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.’”