2Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
The people of Israel were God's special people, set apart from the rest. God made to them promises that He did not make to others. But as the NKJ Study Bible states with covenant promises there are covenant responsibilities. As said in worship service repeatedly, "there are conditions." The people of Israel assumed that because they were God's special people they were excluded from judgment for their misdeeds or didn't have to pay a price. But God said, "I will punish you for all your iniquities." To walk with God is a covenant relationship. But to stay with God you have to uphold your part. God is always in the same place as He was when you left Him. The key is, "you walked away." You cannot walk together if you walk away. And you cannot walk away from God and think you will not incur difficulty when you were the one who initially agreed to be part of His set apart people, His special people. To walk together you have to be in agreement. It's like teamwork. The people of Israel were collectively off because of their choice to disregard the agreement. So they were not in sync and God had to call them out.
When I was in high school we had a performing dance group called Modern Dance Theatre or MDT. It was a six period class followed by two to three hour rehearsals. Performances were done at half time for basketball and football games, the school talent show and we put on our own full length school concert in the spring. We often had six weeks or less to learn a full dance routine for half time shows. But everyone had to learn it which meant you had to know every step, every slight movement of the arm, neck, shoulder, hip, etc. You had to learn how to step together, turn together, stop together. Everything had to be in complete sync. Any deviation by anyone from the routine could easily throw off the dance. We were even in the same costume. We made an agreement even in auditions that you had to work as a team. In other words, it wasn't just about you. If you did not step right, Mrs. Feinberg had permission to call you out. I learned not only to see my own strengths and weaknesses in a routine but my teammates could see them as well and vice versa. We had to learn how to show one another the right way so the dance routine would be right in front of hundreds of people. To be in a spotlight and set apart, it had to be right. It is the same when you are one of God's people. You are in the spotlight whether for the right reason or not both individually and collectively.
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