Failure To Detect Is A Serious Problem

Obadiah 1:7
All your allies will force you to the border;
your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,
but you will not detect it.

Read again these two sentences. If you can’t detect, there is a problem. If you can’t detect there is a problem. Punctuation changes the meaning and we are interested in both meanings. The first one addresses the inability to detect as being a problem. The first one questions your detecting skills. The second one refers to a situation where you are unable to tell when there is a problem. Our text today refers to both situations.

Obadiah is a one chapter book of the Bible. We have written before from the book of Obadiah. All you have to do is visit reikesis.com and use the search option to locate other messages from the prophet Obadiah and even from other topics and books of the Bible. We appreciate all of you who visit the site and give comments at the bottom part of each article. We also appreciate those who do not plagiarise by sharing the messages and still showing the source of their information. It is Christian not to plagiarise. We remain grateful to all of you. Obadiah is a prophet who says a lot in a very brief way. Today we focus on what he tells us about detecting trouble.

Obadiah writes against Edomites, the descendants of Esau. He tells them that God will fight them and punish them for what they did against the Israelites. As part of God’s punishment, they will experience betrayal from allies, friends, and family but they will not detect the betrayal. Our text today tells us that allies will force Edomites to the border, which means causing them to lose their property and inheritance. Friends of Edomites will deceive them and overpower them. Family members and other close beneficiaries and dependants will set a trap against them. A trap is not a good thing. The intention of a trap is negative and harmful. But because of the absence of God, they will not detect the developing problems.

Failure to detect means they will continue associating with those who harm them. Failure to detect means they will continue trusting those who are working against them. Failure to detect means no amount of caution and red flags will alarm them to carefully consider the situation developing towards destruction. Failure to detect a problem is dangerous.

Failure to detect is because we lack wisdom from God. Failure to detect is because God has left us. Failure to detect causes you to take yourself to a slaughterhouse. Failure to detect is being clueless about the developing danger around you. Edomites failed to detect their comic disaster because God had left them and they lacked wisdom from God. When failure to detect is because of sin, no amount of warnings will open your eyes. Everyone will see the danger you are in and warn you, but you will continue in the path of destruction. Failure to detect is a hopeless disastrous situation.

Failure to detect that your poor performance in school is because of your bad friends. Failure to detect that your friends do not care about you they only care about the money they get from you. Failure to detect that this love relationship is just a cover-up for someone getting free sex from you, as you believe it is love and friendship at its best. Failure to detect that this relationship wrangles are a warning that marriage will be rough and painful. Failure to detect that your health is deteriorating because of these bad habits. Failure to detect that as alcohol and other drugs killed others who sank deep into them, you too are sinking deep.

Failure to detect that your gossiping habits have been known all around and you have lost the trust of many. Failure to detect that you are now officially addicted to your phone, to free wifi, and to social media. Failure to detect that some of your habits and behaviors are pushing away people from your life as you grow old and think that they are principles and core to your freedom. Failure to detect that your spending habits will never allow you to save money or prosper financially. Failure to detect will cause you to read things the wrong way. You will see opportunities where there are none. You will fail to see opportunities where there are plenty. You will treat friends as enemies and enemies as friends. Core to this confusion is the inability to detect.

When you fail to detect a problem, you will not rectify it. When you fail to detect a problem, it gets worse but you do not notice. When you fail to detect a problem, you will realize when it is too little too late. What misfortune has befallen us, if we cannot detect a problem? Failure to detect according to our text today is caused by God withdrawing from our life and therefore divine protection and wisdom are also withdrawn. Nothing can rectify that situation except the restoration of the relationship with God.

Dear God I now feel like there are times I have failed to detect a developing problem. I did not detect that mental, spiritual, social, physical, and financial problems developing. It is possible today when I think all is well and I am on a safe path, I am actually blinded by the inability to detect. When I think I fully have the situation figured out, I could be experiencing an inability to detect. Forgive my sins, restore my relationship with You and save me from the inability to detect trouble, in Jesus’ name, Amen!