To Encourage You

1 Samuel 11:1-2 “Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, ‘Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.’ But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, ‘On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.’”

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible says that you are in company with those who are “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). Believers are to be different from this world. They are to be people who have different affections, different hopes, and different behaviors from others around them who have never known Christ. Yet, Christians find themselves often besieged with pressures to not be different, but to conform to this world and everything about it that is at enmity with Christ. As we read accounts of the martyrs from the time of the early church up to and including those of this present age, we often hear of how they have been pressured to turn away from their faith in exchange for relief from threats, mistreatment, and death. Thinking of the church today, there is constant pressure to conform to this world. The result, in many instances, has been some attempt by the church at appeasement. Rather than call sin for what it is and walk in a way that is diametrically opposed to the ways of this world, many churches have caved in to the pressure so that they are largely indistinguishable from the world around them. Rather than share the message of the gospel, they’ve embraced the values of a world opposed to Christ in an effort to fit in and be accepted.

We see a parallel in the verses above from 1 Samuel. In this story we see one of Israel’s greatest enemies, the nation of Ammon, besieging the city of Jabesh-Gilead, one of the cities of Israel situated east of the Jordan River. Under the threats of this enemy, Jabesh-Gilead asks for a treaty with their enemies. Rather than fight, they were choosing to conform in the hope that it would be better for them. But notice the response of Nahash, who was Ammon’s king: “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.” Interestingly, the name Nahash means “serpent,” the same name given to the archenemy of God and his people in various places in the Scriptures, the first being the account of the serpent’s temptation of Eve. In every case where the serpent attacks, it seems that those being attacked often think that to give in would be better for them in some way. That’s what Eve thought, that’s what Israel thought, and that must be what so many Christians are tempted to think even today. But is this ever the case? Is it ever better to give in? Will it somehow be better for us if we yield to the pressures and temptations of the world and its prince? Is it sometimes better for us to be in league with the devil? The answer, obviously, is always “No!” no matter how it might seem. Satan’s agenda never changes. He is always working to kill, steal, and destroy. In Nahash’s reply to Israel’s offer to make a treaty in the verses above, we see that the results of such a treaty would only be to bring physical harm and national disgrace. That’s the end game of the devil. That’s always his aim. That’s been the truth borne out over the centuries, and it’s the sure fate of those who conform to his aims today.

May God help us to resist the temptation to conform to this world and the prince of this world. Rather, may we follow the Prince of Peace, the King of the kingdom that is not of this world. For this God has clearly told us for our own eternal good, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).