The Weakness of the Righteous

THE WEAKNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Judges 8:22-27; 2 Chronicles 15:7, 8,19; 16:7,10,12; 26:5, 7,15-20; 2 Samuel 11:26, 27; 12:7,9,10; Matthew 26:69-75

          We are made righteous by grace. It is not a quality or virtue that is innate or inborn in us. It is by grace that we are saved, not of works. Without grace, we are as ordinary as other people are. Salvation, boldness at the throne of grace, conviction and uncompromising stand on the truth are all by grace. Yet, the fall into sin of great men of God like Noah, Gideon, Asa, Uzziah, David, Peter after they had good testimonies serves as a great warning to all believers on the need  to be watchful at all times. Gideon was a man whom God used to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of the Midianites. The Midianites acknowledged him to be a great warrior.  But more than being a warrior, he was a righteous man. His reply to the request of the Ishmaelites to reign over them shows him to be a man of great humility. But his good testimony was soon stained by his slide into idolatry. Behold, the weakness of a righteous man! Christian, seek not yet repose as there is an ever-present temptation to make you fall.

          Some moral weakness was shown also by King Asa. For thirty-five years he reigned as king, he ruled with the fear of God. There was no idolatry but peace, rest and tranquility in his domain. But later, Asa began to waver in his commitment to the Lord. He became oppressive and dictatorial. The Lord sent His prophet, Hanani, to warn him. But he would not listen. Instead of taking corrections, in his pride he became angry at the prophet’s rebuke. Chastisement or rebuke came by way of disease. The warning was meant to draw him back to the Lord. But he was unrepentant. He could not seek the Lord. Instead, he sought cure from the hands of herbalists and witch doctors. He died from the disease. Uzziah was helped by the Lord to become a highly successful inventor and an engineer. But success got into his head. He became high-minded, arrogant and incorrigible. He died a leper. David, the man after God’s heart, the man who was so righteous that he would not kill his enemy, became so morally weak that he killed the husband of a woman he committed adultery with. Righteous people sometimes can be weak. Peter walked on the water, witnessed the transfiguration of Christ and stoutly defended the Lord his Master by cutting off someone’s ear when they came to arrest the Lord. Yet, thereafter, he denied the Lord thrice.