Breaking Destructive Cycles

A ruthless demand to “gouge the right eye” sounds like distant history, but the siege of Jabesh Gilead reveals something uncomfortably current: the enemy still bargains for small concessions that cost us our sight in the battles that matter. We walk through 1 Samuel 11, unpack who Nahash the Ammonite was, and explain why the right eye carried military, social, and spiritual weight in the ancient Near East. That lens opens up a larger theme—Israel’s recurring loop of revelation, drift, oppression, and rescue—and why so many of us feel trapped in the same pattern today.

From there, we zoom out to the promise Jeremiah foresaw and Jesus fulfilled: a new covenant written on hearts, not just on stone. Forgiveness is the doorway, but indwelling life is the house. We talk candidly about addiction, the futility of white-knuckled willpower, and the moment surrender stops being defeat and becomes transfer of power. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just come upon us for a moment; he lives within, teaching us to wait for power rather than rush into treaties with temptation.

You’ll hear practical, grounded steps to break cycles: ask for time the way Jabesh did, wait for help instead of grabbing the first escape, and choose the pace of peace over the hurry of fear. Prayer, simple obedience, quiet trust, and grateful worship become daily weapons, not religious chores. Refuse the “just one eye” deals. Keep your sight, keep your depth perception, and keep your future. Greater is the One within you than the pressure around you, and the same power that raised Jesus now strengthens your next choice.

If this conversation helped you see your own battle more clearly, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s fighting a cycle, and leave a review so others can find the show. What treaty do you need to refuse this week?

Chapters

• 1:14 Israel’s Calling And Responsibility
• 4:02 Enemies Surround And The Ammonite Threat
• 5:46 Nahash’s Demand And The Meaning Of Eyes
• 11:31 Israel’s Recurring Spiritual Cycle
• 16:38 Personal Addiction And The Need To Surrender
• 19:00 Promise Of A New Covenant Within
• 23:06 Power, Waiting, And Spiritual Warfare
• 27:25 Refuse Treaties With The Enemy
• 29:15 Prayer, Victory, And Closing Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

We've been taking some time and looking into the book of 1 Samuel, and in chapter 11, we found something pretty significant that we wanted to park on for a little while. And it specifically pertains to a cycle that Israel continually found themselves going through. And we'll talk about that in a little bit, but Israel being God's chosen people had with them the great privilege of carrying that name, but also the responsibility of carrying that name. And with privilege comes responsibility, and part of the responsibility was that their lives would be lived in such a way that the entire world would be able to look in on what was going on often. And God would use them as somewhat of a sundial, both in a good way, but also in a way that would show their other side, the side that wasn't really good. It was actually where they would fall into some very serious, serious lifestyle issues that would break the covenant that they had with God. They would fall into idolatry, they would serve other foreign gods, and it was a direct result of their nature being human and unredeemed. And in it, not only did they live it out, but we can see some of the same patterns in our own lives, if we're honest. The fact that we have lived with some times where we've done well, seemingly done really good, and then other times where it's been we don't want anyone to really know what it is that we've been doing because we're not proud of it. A cycle going from you know that place of being really inwardly determined that we're gonna just do the right thing to not really carrying that same attitude and not caring what we did with our lives, kind of care less. And Israel was very much that way. And we're picking up a story in 1 Samuel chapter 11 where Israel found themselves in a very difficult situation, and that there was a kingdom that was always on the lookout for a way to get to Israel, to either conquer them or to put them into a place of turmoil, and it was the Ammonites. There were several. There were the Ammonites, there were the Hittites, there were the Philistines, there was just there was a variety of people from the East, West, North, and South that did not like Israel. Funny thing. It's much the same today. In year 2025, we have people from the East, West, North, and South that are opposing the nation of Israel in a very significant way. And it's because they are God's chosen people. Not because they've been the greatest, but because God chose them. Plain and simple. It was God's choice to make covenant with them and to use them as the basis for all covenants, and we who believe in Jesus have been grafted in like a wild olive branch. We would graft it into the covenant that's been cut in the very blood of Jesus. Hallelujah. But anyway, the nation of Israel was in a very difficult place in chapter eleven of first Samuel, and that this leader by the name of Nahash. And Nahash's name is pronounced just that way Nahash, but you kind of hold that and a little bit longer, like Nahash, almost like the hiss of a snake. In fact, his name was translated as being snake or serpent. And he was notorious. Nahash the Ammonite, kind of like Tiller the Hun or you know, the Gigas Kong of the Marauders. There was a notorious title that he carried because one of the practices that he loved to engage in was gouging out the eyes of his opponent. He was a person that would take and gouge out the eyes of those people that he defeated because in the Near East at that time there was a widespread belief and tradition that eyes had immense power, not just for sight, but for emotional and spiritual connection. And blinding an enemy was a way to neutralize that power. And blindness was also viewed as a major disability, leaving a person vulnerable and dependent on others. The vulnerability was both physical and a sign of impurity or exclusion. Blindness was something that was known to be a form of severe punishment for political and military rivals. Certain ancient societies used blinding to disqualify rebel people that were rivals, to disqualify them from ruling because it would eliminate them as a threat in any way concerning their ability to fight in the military. So the scripture, you know, really points out the fact that in 1 Samuel chapter eleven, verse 1 through 3, and in fact I'll read it. It says Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabush Gilead. And all the men of Jabish said to him, Make a treaty with us and we'll be subject to you. But Nahash the Ammonite replied, I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and so bring disgrace on all Israel. The elders of Jabish said to him, Give us seven days so we can send messengers to Israel. If no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you. Well, she did. And Samson lost his power as a result of his hair being cut. And in verse 21 through 22 of Judges chapter 16, we read The Philistines seized him, gouged his eyes, and took him down to Gaza, binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison, but the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Again, the gouging out of eyes. As we said, the Ammonites were part of the people from the Near East at the time, so were the Philistines. That whole culture had a lot to think about and say about things concerning the eyes. In fact, the scriptures have a lot to say about the eyes. There are over 500 references in the scriptures that talk about the eyes. In fact, let me give you four quick examples. Matthew chapter six, verses twenty two through twenty-three. Jesus said, The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body is full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. Interesting. Psalm one nineteen verse eighteen says, Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. Proverbs four verse twenty five. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. No wonder the removal of eyes was used by the Ammonites, because it would bring disgrace. It would bring disgrace on the entire nation of Israel as well as incapacitating the men of Jabesh from any military activity. Removing the right eye created a terrible blind spot, leaving the soldier unable to defend himself or to be on the offensive or on some sort of attack mode. The Philistines also practiced eye gouging and removal as a sign of public humiliation, defeat, and torture. In fact, they were the BTK before there was a BTK serial killer in the United States of America. There's nothing new under the sun, just new window dressings. As we said before, when a person looks at the history of Israel as a nation, we get kind of a bird's eye view because much of it was recorded in the scriptures, right? So the people who lived it out daily typically didn't have the helicopter view we do. We see things from our vantage point, but they were literally caught in a cycle. And if you know what I'm talking about in being caught in a cycle, we briefly discussed it at the beginning of the podcast, where you want to do good things, you get kind of that surge where you want to do good and then you fall away. And then something happens, you want to do good again, then you fall away. And it goes on and on and on and on. And it's kind of in the end, it's like, well, is it even worth it to try to kind of get my hopes up? Because I end up falling flat on my face anyway. And that is a concern and a question that we all face if we're honest. And in Israel, the cycle, right? The cycle would look something like this. God would reveal his presence and the glory of his kingdom. A call to repent and change the mindset of behavior would come, and people would accept that and they would change. And there would be a shift, and the people would begin getting stronger and more prosperous in all areas of life. Israel began defeating its enemies, and God's name became revered among the nations. But inevitably a shift would suddenly begin taking place. People started loving things and using people instead of loving God, loving one another and using things to enjoy life together. Next they began looking at how other nations were doing things and began taking upon themselves their culture and adhering to their ways. They would experience the pleasure found in the lifestyle that was contrary to life of God in his kingdom, and it had kind of an intoxicating effect on them. But that would only last for a period of time. It felt good and it looked good, almost too good to be true, until the enemy would show his true colors and begin oppressing and overpowering the nation, ultimately defeating them and bringing them into captivity. After several years of captivity, Israel would begin to cry out again to God for mercy and for deliverance, and God, in his mercy, would hear their cry, send the deliverer, and redeem them from their condition. Once again, he would reveal his true nature and the glory of his kingdom. The people would repent and God would not hold their sins against them. He would justify them and sanctify them as holy. Life in the kingdom of God would become a new experience for a new generation, but the cycle then would continue to go on from there, and it would go on and on and on, and the cycle seemed to be unbreakable. And in some of your lives, the cycle seems to be unbreakable. I know in mine, at one point in my life, I felt that it was unbreakable. The cycle of alcoholism to have a craving and a mental obsession and then a determination to stop. Only to stop for a little while, and then there would be an obsession that would take place, and a craving with that obsession, and then a giving into it, and that addiction process would then kick in, and the degradation would ensue, and soon there would be that feeling of uselessness with a cry for help, and it would go on and on and on, and it wouldn't seem to have any end until at one point in time I just kind of gave up, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on what you do when you give up. If you give up and give up on life, that's a huge mistake. But if you give up and surrender to God, something different has taken place as a result of Jesus Christ. See, prior to Jesus, the Spirit of God would only come upon people. He didn't dwell within people. But in Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah said something and prophesied something that was going to take place down the road, and he could see something happening down the road, but it hadn't happened yet in the old covenant prior to Jesus. But Jeremiah said this in Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 through 33. We have it written, He said, The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. That's talking about Jesus, the time of Jesus, the time in which Jesus came, conceived, born, lived, and died sinless. He was the spotless lamb, the sinless one, whose blood, whose very blood it would take blood to break that cycle. It would take the blood of a perfect man. Not the blood of an animal, but the blood of a perfect man would be able to break that cycle in mankind. That cycle of sin and death where we would ultimately find ourselves back in that thing again, even though we would try. But how would that break? The blood would break it, but we would be able to overcome it because not only were we forgiven, not only did Jesus shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins, but so that we could receive life. The life of God would be in us. He wouldn't just lead us by the hand, he would lead us by the heart. Big difference, man. Big difference. And now when the same issues come our way, there's a power within us. The very life of God, the very Spirit of God is in us, not just upon us. Yes, he comes upon us. Yes, he dwells around us, but he lives within us. He abides in us and we abide in him. We have covenant. Jesus cut covenant with his blood. And because of his death, his resurrection, and his ascension, we now have victory over that cycle. Praise God. Now, how do you do it? How do you do it? Because the temptations still come. But now we have a power to draw upon. We have life that we didn't have before. And we can draw upon that life when we ask for help. And we wait. You see, sometimes we are tempted to do things in a very hurried fashion. If it doesn't happen right away, it must not be something that's going to happen at all. It's probably not going to happen to me at all. It didn't happen right away, it's not going to happen. Sometimes we have to wait. You see, the pace of peace is different than the pace that comes when we are being hurried along. A hectic life. And God knows we live hectic lives. And to settle down and to slow down and to wait sometimes is unnatural for us. But again, we have a life in us that's not just our own. We can cooperate. We still operate on our own. We can cooperate. We're not the one in a driver's seat any longer. God is. We've given him our life. He now is one who possesses our life. And when we wait upon him, he will renew our strength. The scriptures promise that those of us who wait upon the Lord will renew our strength. We will not faint, we'll not grow weary. We will mount up like wings as though we were like on the wings of eagles or with eagles. We'll run and not be weary, we'll walk and not faint. When we wait on the Lord, when we slow down, we don't make a treaty, right? We do what they did in Jabish Gilead. And that they said, wait seven days before we give in to your request. Sometimes we gotta wait. Because help is on the way. And the help that's on the way is from the inside. This is an inside job. It's an inside out operation. But we need to learn how to wait. Wait for his help, but also to wait for his power. When we are empowered by the Holy Spirit, after Jesus said to his disciples, and he breathed on him, he said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Later he said, wait in Jerusalem until you are given power by the Holy Spirit. Power. We need to be empowered to serve in the kingdom of God because the opposition that comes our way is strong, man. I'm not gonna deny the fact that it is strong even when you're a believer, it still remains strong, the opposition. But greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. And I'm talking about Satan and his kingdom and his powers. And we are in a battle. Like it or not, we're in a battle, but we are victorious in Jesus because of Jesus. By his spirit we overcome. If we are diligent in our life to pray, if we're faithful to obey, if we quietly trust, patiently observe, and thankfully give praise and worship to God, we will be overcomers. You can overcome the cycle. You don't have to be subject to that endless cycle of hope and disappointment. You can be victorious over the situation and the circumstances in your life, the difficulties that come your way, and trouble will come. In this world, we're gonna have tribulations. But Jesus said, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. He's overcome, and now we too in him can overcome when we follow him. Hallelujah. That is good news. We have a deliverer, we have a redeemer, we have a Messiah, we have one who's saved us from our sins, forgiven us from all of our sins, the ones that we committed, the ones that we might commit today, and the ones that you might commit tomorrow, that all forgiven. Hallelujah. This is a very, very, very significant covenant that we've been called into. And one of the things that we've been called into is to be overcomers, to not be subject to the endless cycle like we see in life of Israel prior to Jesus. It was an example to show all of us that that's really the way life is without hope, without help, without God. We're destined to be in an endless cycle. But if you're a believer, in you is a power, the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in you. Once again, the same power that raised Christ Jesus, that raised Jesus from the dead, the same power, the same life, the same spirit that raised him from the dead dwells in you. You can overcome, if he overcame death, you can overcome anything in this life. Anything. And even then, in the end, we overcome death. We are destined to be citizens of the kingdom of God eternally, with eternal life in us. So, if you're looking at your situation in life and you're facing a difficult time, draw on the strength of the Lord and wait. Wait until you're endued with power. Don't make some sort of treaty with the enemy. Don't give in to that temptation. Don't say, Well, just give in a little bit, just one eye. You know, just go do one eye, don't just go to a both eyes. Nah, it doesn't work that way. When you're dismembered, you're disqualified to battle. Fortunately, God is merciful and his mercy does not disqualify us from life, but we become ineffective. But when we don't give in to the enemy and he doesn't gouge out our eye, we remain capable of engaging in spiritual warfare and being victorious. Hallelujah. So one of the lessons that we learn in the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 11, is that there are cycles in life, but Israel made a wise choice in not giving in to the d into the demands of the enemy. Even though they were tempted to make a treaty with them, with him. And now, through Jesus Christ, by his spirit, we are overcomers. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you that you have given us your life. You've given us your spirit. Holy Spirit, you have come in the name of Jesus and found a dwelling within us. Teach us your ways, O Lord. Show us. Show us how to wait. Show us how to receive. Teach us things that we don't know on our own. By our own thoughts and our own studies. You show us things, God. Reveal. By revelation, give to us insight and understanding. I thank you. And we stand here in the name of Jesus and we declare that in Him we are victorious. And we say Amen. So be it. Amen. Hallelujah. Alright, folks, we love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at life are on the fire at gmail.com. Type in LifeRon the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.