Monday, November
13, 2017
But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey his laws. They turned back and were as faithless
as their parents. They were as
undependable as a crooked bow. They
angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made him jealous with their
idols. When God heard them,
he was very angry, and he completely rejected Israel. Then he abandoned his dwelling at
Shiloh, the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people. He allowed the Ark of his might to be
captured; he surrendered his glory into enemy hands. He gave his people over to be butchered
by the sword, because he was so angry with his own people—his special
possession. Their young men
were killed by fire; their young women died before singing their wedding songs. Their priests were slaughtered, and their
widows could not mourn their deaths..
Psalm 78:56-64(NLT)
The
re-telling of Israel’s history is magnificent and painful. The Psalmist begins with the nation’s
beginning, release from Egypt and the Exodus.
From there he traces the roller-coaster pattern of ups and downs as the
people of God alternately walk in faith, followed by blind unbelief and blatant
disobedience to the God who saved them.
The people
of God constantly made a farce of being God’s chosen, and whenever I read the
account of our spiritual ancestors I am always consumed by two thoughts:
#1. What
were you thinking?
And
then I’m caught short by the other thought:
#2. Who am I kidding…I’m just like them!
God
understands us more than we understand ourselves, which is why He had Moses
write ALL of Israel’s
history…victories when they obeyed and followed God, as well as the crushing
defeats and consequences when they wandered away from Him in unbelief. We get the heroes and utter failures, warts
and all!
And God
had Paul the Apostle write down the reason for this full disclosure:
These things
happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn
us who live at the end of the age. 1
Corinthians 10:11(NLT)
When
you take these facts together you understand that God is not interested in PR,
political correctness, or what humans think about the way God acted in
history. Rather, God is interested in
how humans respond to Him in obedience and service.
That
doesn’t much resonate with today’s emphasis on everybody getting to be soothed
with having all their tender feelings stroked, and the ultra-goofiness of having
every silly thought or lifestyle more than tolerated…even validated…but God isn’t
interested in all that. God is still
interested in how we will honor, respect, and serve the One who created us, and
died for the forgiveness of our sins.
If
that offends, we can only offer the same condolence we render to the
childishness of Israel…what were you
thinking?
For You
Today
It
is better to serve God faithfully, to heed the warning of Scripture’s
full-disclosure of the sins of human giants like Moses, David and Peter, than
to repeat their mistakes!
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