Thread by @TosinOlunuga

A very BLESSED morning to you.

"Living on Lori Iro"

Was studying a few verses in the book of 1Sam. Chapter 4, and I am struck by a few occurrences which are still common in today's world, even as we continually live on self denial. The Lori Iro kind of thing. Nothing thrives

when we live in self denial. There is no fresh start without doing the needful.

Let's take a look at;
1 Samuel 4:2 MSG
The Philistines marched out to meet Israel, the fighting spread, and Israel was badly beaten - about 4,000 soldiers left dead on the field.
1 Samuel 4:3 When

the troops returned to camp, Israel's elders said, "Why has God given us such a beating today by the Philistines? Let's go to Shiloh and get the Chest of God's Covenant. It will accompany us and save us from the grip of our enemies."

The catch here for me is this;

The elders

were quick to blame God for the overwhelming defeat and shame at the hands of the "godless" philistines, and as if that was not enough, they tried to "USE" God, like, He, God, was in their pockets, ready to be used at all times and for whatever purpose. It did not matter if God

was "busy, asleep, playing etc-(just used those catch phrases literally. We know God cannot be caught in any of those)

The point here is that, defeat started for them early, even before the battle.

God had expressed His anger against the prophet over israel (Eli) and his 2

sons, Hophni & Phinehas, They were God's mouthpiece to the nation and at this time, the relationship between them and God, had been breached. It had not been mended and this could not be ignored or swept under the carpet.

Everyone ignored the ripple effect of this severed

relationship on the nation.
Secondly, the very people God was angry with, Hophni & Phinehas, who probably held strategic positions in the army, advanced to battle with the rest of the army...no nau, God sees and knows all things, for crying out loud.

Those days, it was like, one bad apple ruined everything.

With Achan's sin in the "camp" Israel lost against a very tiny nation called AI.

In like manner, a disobedient Jonah in the boat almost caused a catastrophic fatality on a boat trip.

You see, with God, nothing is swept under the carpet like it never existed or happened. Issues must be dealt with.

There will be no progress until underlining issues are addressed. Yes, God is quick and open to forgiveness, but, this will not happen until we, like the prodigal

son in Luke 15, "come to ourselves" repent and ask for forgiveness.

Those days, the sin of just one man or woman in the "camp" pulled down the entire nation.

David sinned and the entire nation suffered for it in;
1 Chronicles 21:1 MSG
Now Satan entered the scene and seduced

David into taking a census of Israel.
1 Chronicles 21:3
Joab resisted: "May God multiply his people by hundreds! Don't they all belong to my master the king? But why on earth would you do a thing like this - why risk getting Israel into trouble with God?"
1 Chronicles 21:4

But David wouldn't take no for an answer, so Joab went off and did it - canvassed the country & then came back to Jerusalem
1 Chronicles 21:7 And God, offended by the whole thing, punished Israel.
1 Chronicles 21:14 So God unleashed an epidemic in Israel - 70,000 Israelites died

Did you see that in V7 & 14? an entire nation suffered monumentally.

These days, things are a lot different, but, one wrong step by the husband or wife in the home, will most definitely affect everyone.
One wrong step or misguided policy decision can make a community, state or

nation "go 20 years back"

We cannot continually be in the wrong, move on and expect things to workout the way we want.

GOD cannot be used. He is not our servant and for crying out loud, He is the Almighty, the Incomprehensible, the unfathomable, the fathomless, the

unintelligible, the inscrutable, unexplainable, Bis ways past finding out, He is ineffable and very honorable too.

There are principles that govern our relationship with God.
We can't continue to "do anyhow" and expect grace to abound. If we continue,

we will then be living on what I call, Lori Iro...

To be cont'd

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