Stomp Out Sin

Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction; therefore, your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’" 1 Kings 20:42 (NKJV)

After suffering a major defeat, Ben-Hadad approaches King Ahab with a treaty between the two nations. King Ahab accepts the treaty, so God sends a prophet to him, disguised as a wounded soldier. The prophet tells King Ahab that he was given charge of an enemy to guard, which escaped, thus condemning him to death. The prophet comes forward to King Ahab after the king declares that the wounded soldier deserves death for failing his duty, revealing that the king himself is that soldier. God had ordered King Ahab to kill Ben-Hadad, knowing that the Syrian ruler would be Israel's downfall, but the king makes a treaty with him instead which leads to his destruction and that of his people.

Ben-Hadad represents the sin in our lives that we think we can control. We could be a recovering alcoholic, and we have that emergency bottle hidden in the back of the closet. We could have had a pornography issue but didn't take the steps to put restrictions on our phones. We could had had a gambling problem, but we left apps on our phones that require money to play. It doesn't matter what sin may have controlled us in the past, but unless we stomp it out completely, it will come back to control us. James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." By submitting ourselves fully to God, and giving our sin completely to him, we let God control it instead of us, giving the devil no power in using that sin against us.

Choose to submit yourself and all of your sin to God. Meditate on scripture to guard against temptation and shift your thoughts towards God's promises. Seek God's guidance to find a path away from sin and pray continually to strengthen you to resist sin. Acknowledge when you sin and run back to God for forgiveness. Join a faith-based recovery group like Celebrate Recovery and join others who will support you in stomping out your sin.