"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."

When Samuel told Israel to put away foreign gods and the Ashtaroth, I almost skimmed right over it. In my Bible brain, I just know Israel always had a problem with idols. This was par for the course.

But then I wondered why Samuel named Ashtaroth specifically. Why not just say foreign gods and leave it at that?

Here's what I need you to know. Ashtaroth was the plural form of the gods Israel kept falling back to. It was the god they committed spiritual adultery with the most. Over and over again. It was their darling sin.

A darling sin is any compromise you keep returning to. The thing you've tried to quit a hundred times but always take back because it promises what your flesh demands. You hate it because you love it so much. You don't want to keep doing it, but you do.

Paul understood this. He wrote about having the desire to do what was right but not the ability to carry it out. The good he wanted to do, he didn't do. The evil he didn't want to do... that's what he kept doing. Maybe you read that and something stirs in you because you know exactly what that feels like.

Can I just say something? I fought a darling sin for more than half my life before I found freedom from it. I'm not speaking to you from some ivory tower of perfection. I know what it's like to want to stop and not be able to. To confess, repent, try again, and fail again.

So when Samuel called out the Ashtaroth by name, he was speaking to the thing Israel couldn't quit. The sin that had become so familiar it felt almost comfortable. The compromise that had been normalized for so long it didn't even feel like compromise anymore.

You and I have Ashtaroths in our lives too. Sins we hate because we love them. We read, pray, confess, seek help, make promises, set boundaries... and still we go back. We don't want to love it but we do. We don't want to keep doing it but we do.

Here's the incredible thing. Fasting creates space to finally confront what we've been unable to defeat. Not because going without food magically breaks addiction. But because fasting is an act of dependence. It says... God, I cannot break free from this on my own. I need You to do what I can't.

Name your Ashtaroth. Not vaguely. Specifically. Because you cannot renounce what you refuse to name.

Tomorrow we'll look at the foreign gods... the things we turn to instead of God for peace, comfort, and security.

1. What is your darling sin... the compromise you keep returning to despite repeated attempts to stop?
2. Why do you think it has such a hold on you? What does it promise that keeps you coming back?

Name your Ashtaroth today. Write it down specifically. Not a general category but the actual thing. Then confess it to God and ask Him to break its power over you.