Let's Turn Back to God

The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires. – Proverb 11:6

In first Samuel Chapter eight, when Prophet Samuel had advanced in age, he selected his two sons to be judges over Israel. However, his two sons – Joel and Abijah – were crooked, corrupt and did not follow God’s ways as their father did. 1 Samuel 8:3 reads, “They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.” 

Seeing this, the elders of Israel gathered together and reasoned among themselves that they no longer wanted to be led by judges but kings like other nations. When they told this to Samuel, he was displeased with them. I Samuel 8:5, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."

Samuel prayed to God concerning the matter and God replied to him saying, “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” 1 Samuel 8:7. Israel rejected God as their king because they wanted to be like other nations. Rather than choosing to follow the path that God had chosen for them, they chose to conform themselves to the patterns of world. The children of Israel had forgotten that it was God all along who led them out of captivity; that it was God who had provided for their fore-fathers during their journey in the wilderness and they had forgotten that it was God who fought their battles for them as their King. 

Today, we find ourselves in the very same position where the children of Israel were. People have rejected God’s will and His commandments and chosen to live as those who do not honor God. We’ve chosen not to walk according to God’s ways and rejected His commands by choosing to walk according to the patterns of this world. By rejecting God as our King to rule over us, we have now chosen the false gods to rule over us. We’ve surrendered ourselves to the desires of our flesh, to the pleasures of life, and because of man’s great love for the world, man has found himself in bondage.

The Israelites looked around their neighboring nations and desired their way of life. Other nations were led by kings and queens, they worshiped false gods, such as Baal and Ashtoreth, and they led a very perverted life. The world today is not any different. Today, people are worshiping false gods; they no longer fear the Living God since they have turned aside after the desires and pleasures of this world.

In Deuteronomy 28:14, Moses warned the people, “Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.” The warning that Moses gave to the people then, is still applicable to us now. We are warned not to turn aside from God’s chosen path to righteousness. We are called to walk according to God’s way, to obey Him and worship God as our King. 

Paul in his letters to the Romans warns, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2. When we choose to live according to God’s command, it is then that we begin to turn away from our sinful way of life and adopt a new way of life which Christ taught us how to live. And this begins with repentance.

Though we may have rejected God by choosing to turn to sinful living, we still have the opportunity to come back to God and restore our relationship with Him. To do that, is through believing in His Son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins so that we may have a closer relationship with God the Father who is in heaven. Turning away from sin, is to turn towards Jesus Christ. 

1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’”

I pray that we may all turn back to God, and rid ourselves of the things that are holding us back from developing a proper relationship with God.