Tag Archives: obedience

Game Called On Account of Darkness

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Ezekiel 17-20

Throughout history people have been trying to get God to accept our idea of what religion looks like. We want Him to accept our rules, play our game. He never does.

He lets us go for awhile running the bases in reverse, but eventually He calls the game and plows up the field. When will we learn that either we play His game or we don’t play at all?

I used to play softball in a church league that played on fields without lights. Very often we would get only five or six innings in before it became too dangerous to continue to play, and the umpire would end the game because of the darkness. I bet you know where I”m going with this.

Playing by our own rules is sin. And sin is darkness. God will only let His creation continue in darkness until He makes the call to stop the madness. Judgment comes. And for some, they wind up in eternal darkness.

The thing is, God’s game is fun. It’s fair. It’s well organized and everyone playing by His rules always wins. No one loses!

We might try to tell Abner Doubleday how to play baseball. What a joke! He invented the game. And God invented the game of life.

This life is much more serious than a nine inning romp around the bases; the outcome more important than a World Series ring. Hear God say obey Him, follow His rules, play His game, then live blessed in this life and in eternity. If you play it any other way, be prepared for Him to call the game on account of darkness. Then He will add up the score, hold you accountable…

in this life and in eternity.

Kindling For The Fire

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Jeremiah 36-39

Does it shock you that King Zedekiah could cut off a portion of God’s Word and throw it into the fire? He cut off one section at a time until the whole scroll was destroyed. Can you believe this man’s audacity? His blatant disrespect for God’s word is astounding.

When I was in pre-school our Sunday School teachers, Aunt Minnie and Aunt Rose taught us to never set anything on top of our Bibles. They had us practice stacking books so we would learn to place the Bible above all others. Aunt Minnie and Aunt Rose would not be happy with Zedekiah!

But, as always, God asks me to dig a little deeper. I am right to be appalled at Zedekiah’s unbelievable rejection of God’s Word. But am I as appalled at my own?

You don’t reject God’s Word, Connie. You read it every day. You write what you’ve learned about what you’ve read every day. You even throw it out into cyber-space, praying someone will be drawn closer to God through your blog. You teach Sunday School, for crying out loud. You haven’t rejected God’s Word. You proclaim it every day.

Ain’t I special?

But God doesn’t let us pat ourselves on the back very long before He slaps us in the face:

What about those thoughts you have that dishonor me? Did you cut out Philippians 4:8 and throw it into the fire? How about Matthew 10:37-39? Aren’t you more concerned about offending your family than you are about being true to Me? That’s a hard verse. Maybe it’s just easier to cut it out of Scripture and throw it into the fire.

Ouch.

I can condemn old Zedekiah all I want. But I don’t think God included this account in His Word so we could point fingers at some guy who’s been dead for thousands of years.

I hear God asking me today: How chopped up is your own Bible, Connie?

If we are cutting out portions of God’s Word because we don’t want to deal with the Truth and we don’t like what it’s telling us about ourselves, we might be preparing the kindling to start the very fire that will torture us in eternity.

How Far Does It Go?

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Jeremiah 33-35

Are you as convicted as I when you read the testimony of the Rechabites in chapter 35? They had been invited to an exclusive party held in an inner chamber of the house of the Lord. I’m thinking that would be like a black-tie dinner with Billy Graham, John MacArthur, and Matthew Henry. A bit intimidating.

But when offered some wine, the Rechabite men respectfully declined.

Ok. So I picture myself sitting at a table with these three giants of the Church. Matthew Henry picks up a bottle of wine and fills four glasses. He, Rev. Graham, and Rev. MacArthur pick up their glasses, ready to offer a toast. (Now I have no idea whether or not any of these men drank wine. This is purely my imagination. I digress.)

They pause and wait for me to pick up my glass. I know there is nothing wrong with a little wine now and then. Paul recommended it to Timothy, if I recall. But I’ve promised God I will refrain from drinking wine as a visible sign of my submission to Him. What do I do?

The Rechabites’ decision to refuse the wine had nothing to do with the wine. This passage in Scripture is not about declaring that good Christians shouldn’t drink alcohol. What those men did had everything to do with obedience, submission, and commitment.

And that’s what convicts me. If you read further in chapter 35 you will see that these men were obeying their dad who probably wasn’t even there at the time. Yet God’s own children couldn’t obey Him even when His presence was so obvious among them. The Recabites honored their father in a way the Jews did not honer their Heavenly Father. They obeyed a human. The Jews wouldn’t obey their Creator.

God is asking me today how committed I am. How determined am I to obey His Word, even when it would be easier to compromise, to taste just a bit of sin so I don’t offend someone, or so that I fit in, or so I won’t be labeled a buzz kill.

I have committed my life to the Lord. I want to represent Him well. I tell Him I’m willing to suffer for the Name. But I sit here this morning and wonder how far I’m willing to take that commitment.

Pray for me. I’m praying for you.

It’s Not Just History

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Jeremiah 26-29

It’s so important to read and re-read the whole Bible. God speaks on every page! If we don’t learn from history, we will repeat the mistakes that were made in the past. So what can we learn from Jeremiah?

The Jews didn’t like what Jeremiah was saying so they decided to cancel him. Well actually, it was a bit worse than shutting down his Twitter account. They decided to kill him to silence him.

Now some of the elders stood up and spoke truth. Taking from their history, they reminded their fellow Jews that in the past when God pronounced judgment on disobedient Israel, He relented when they repented and obediently served and worshiped Him again. But when others prophesied about God’s judgment, and their forefathers rejected the warning, judgment came as it had been prophesied.

This time they let Jeremiah live, and he continued to warn them. He didn’t back down due to fear for his life.

So many lessons here in these chapters! Here are a couple God has pointed out to me this morning:

  1. God is talking to His children. That’s you and I who call ourselves Christians. It’s the Church in 2023. And I believe God is telling us it’s our responsibility for what happens in this world. Obedience=Blessing. Disobedience=Judgment. It was that way in the past, and God has not changed.
  2. But here’s the beauty: God has a plan. And it’s a good one!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

Yes, I am aware God is specifically speaking about the seventy year Jewish exile. But in that bit of history is a theme that is repeated throughout Scripture, and a lesson that is as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.

Obey and be blessed. Disobey and suffer the consequences.

Do you want things to change in your personal life, in your church, our nation, the world? Then here’s the answer:

Seek God with all your heart.

Yeah. It’s that simple. If we, the Church, God’s chosen people in this time in history would actually do that, really be like Christ in love and in truth, I believe God would hear us. I believe the trajectory of this world would change dramatically. And I believe people who are searching for truth would find it in the Savior we serve and worship.

If you don’t believe me, read God’s Word for yourself. Ask God to reveal the Truth. He will! This Book is not just history. It’s alive and active and powerful enough to change you and change our world, if we would just learn and live what it says.

How Much Clearer?

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Jeremiah 18-22

If you turn from wickedness. If you obey. If you humble yourselves. All of these “ifs” are followed by God’s promise to bless and not curse, to restore and not destroy.

If you continue to sin. If you turn your back on God and refuse to repent. If you insist on being your own god, then brace yourselves. God’s judgment will come without mercy.

How much clearer does God have to be?

Come on, Christian. What is it going to be? The choice you make today will bless or curse your life both now and in eternity. But it will also impact your family, your church, and collectively our communities, nation, and the world. Your decision, my decision, the decision of all of us who call ourselves Christians is that important.

How much clearer does God have to be?

The Perfect Gift

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Isaiah 66

There is this idea out there that if we are good people, kind, and generous, God will somehow balance the scale and accept us by what we do. It seems people want to believe a loving God would never send a good person to hell.

There are many things wrong with that kind of thinking. Isaiah addresses one of those in chapter 66.

God, through Isaiah, says to His children: you want to build a house for me as some great gesture? I created anything you’d use to build it. What kind of gift is that?

You don’t gift something to someone they themselves own. If you want to give something to God, it has to be more than doing good. He IS good.

You don’t hold someone’s hand, point to their thumb and say, “Let me give you this thumb.”

Do you want to know the perfect gift for God?

But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (vs 2b)

The perfect gift is YOU! That’s one thing He doesn’t have until you give yourself to Him.

Not Without You

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Isaiah 33-37

The King of Assyria’s representative stood before the people of Israel and threatened them using half-truths, mocking them for their faith in God. Assyria was a strong nation, a very real threat with the power to destroy nations. In fact, they had destroyed many cities and nations, now had set their sights on Jerusalem. The Assyrians believed they were unstoppable. In a sense, they were.

No other nation had been able to stand against them. On the other hand, no other nation had God on their side, either.

We, the Church, have what many think is an unstoppable enemy. So far this enemy has conquered academia, medicine, governments, banking, morality, churches, the media, parents and families. Our enemy’s representatives threaten us with half-truths and mock us for our faith in God. They believe they are unstoppable. And in a sense they are.

But their god of self will never defeat a people whose God is the Lord.

Hezekiah heard the threats and didn’t ignore them. He didn’t hide in the safety of his comfortable home. He took it to God, with humility and trust.

If my people, who are called by name, (that’s you who wear the Name of Christ by calling yourself a Christian) will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (1 Chronicles 7:14)

When you look at the state of our world, are you ready to cash it in? You’ve got your ticket to heaven. Are you praying God will just come back and end it all?

Or are you willing to humble yourself, repent of your sin, turn from your wickedness, and obey God by standing firm on the Truth that is Scripture, by voting, shopping, supporting causes that align with God’s Word? Will you quit being silent and start being His voice, His hands and feet, making disciples of people who need Him, in a world that is lost without Him?

God will save our land. But not without you.

Moving The Boundaries

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Hosea 1-6

God is condemning the Jews for their unfaithfulness. He paints a real-life object lesson through the prophet Hosea. So much of what God is accusing the Jews of, I see in our world today.

But God isn’t condemning the world here in Hosea. He’s condemning His own children. In today’s terms, He’s condemning the Church.

One of the things that spoke to me is found in 5:10. I believe God has established boundaries for the Church in the same way He established boundaries for the OT Jews. Are we as guilty as they of moving those boundaries? Haven’t we convinced ourselves we have to adjust the boundaries in order to be relevant to society in 2023?

Our pastor spoke about the dangers of compromise last Sunday. Maybe that’s what got me thinking about this today. I’m thinking we are moving boundaries when we compromise.

First of all, we need to survey the land so we know where the boundaries are set. We do that by reading God’s Word. Too many of us read what people say about God’s Word, and neglect our personal responsibility to read Scripture ourselves. Do you know where God has set the boundaries on marriage, parenting, obedience, sexuality, self, sin, and salvation? What are God’s boundaries around worship, Truth, Jesus, eternity? Get out your Bibles and survey the land.

Secondly, once we know those boundaries according to Scripture, we’d better let them be. The property line between you and your neighbor isn’t fluid. Infringing, or moving the boundaries because you’d be happier with a few more feet of land, is against the law and there are consequences to be paid for breaking the law.

Read what God says to us through Hosea. Moving the boundaries God has set invites His wrath to be poured out like water. Chew on that a minute. If you recognize your own tendency to push on a boundary or two, confess it and repent of it. If you recognize your church pushing on a boundary or two, speak up. Demand adherence to that boundary. Don’t just sit idly by and invite God’s wrath.

God has set boundaries, not to make life difficult for us, but to make life better, freer, blessed by Him. Life gets difficult when we try to move those boundaries. (by the way, God calls that sin).

Don’t have any part in moving the boundaries God has established, either in your personal life or in your family or in your church. He’s warning us today that moving the boundaries comes with serious consequences..

How Can I Help?

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2 Chronicles 10

The history of God in Old Testament Israel emphasizes how things can drastically change from one generation to the next. There just is no guarantee that when the older generation passes the torch, the younger generation will carry on with the same values, even if they are raised by God-loving and God-fearing parents.

We talked about that in Sunday School yesterday. Parents do their best. But their children choose for themselves what they will believe and how they will live their lives.

So what do we do? Is there an expiration date on parenting?

“My kid’s 18. I can relax now.”

If you’re a parent, you know that’s not true. If your parents are alive, you know that’s not true for them, either. You never stop being the parent.

But what about the Church? Does there come a time when we who are retired from our jobs and might not have the energy we once had, are free to just sit back and observe, put our feet up and let things fall as they may? I sure hope not.

And I don’t believe that’s what God intends, according to Scripture.

Rehoboam went to the old timers who had counseled his father Solomon for advice. They gave sound advice to the young king. But Rehoboam rejected it, and Israel suffered for it.

Two things about this:

  1. Rehoboam went to them. Where do we want our young people going for advice? Do they know they can come to us? How do they know that? Maybe it’s up to us to connect with them in ways they’ll know they can trust us, and want to get our spin on things. Sure maybe they, like Rehoboam, won’t take the advice. But maybe they will.
  2. The advisors told Rehoboam the truth. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. But the advisors didn’t change the message just to please the king.

I don’t know about you, but I think if the next generation is that which is portrayed in the news, we are fighting a losing battle. But then I look around at the young people in my church, in the neighborhood where I live, in my own family, and I realize THEY are the next generation.

I’m not ready to throw up my hands and say there is no hope. I see hope in their eyes. The question I’m asking myself today is:

How can I help?

We Can Do Better

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Proverbs 7-12

Reading these proverbs today served to remind me how far removed our present society is from wisdom and righteousness. Whether it’s the false gospel being preached in some churches, the liberal left’s platform, the anti-Christ “woke” agenda, the LGBTQ abomination, the evil transgenderism attack on innocent children, we live in a world controlled by Satan.

I know some will say God’s in control. But I’m not sure we understand what that means.

Often in Scripture we see where God, in His sovereignty, gave up His control when men’s heart turned to evil. Make no mistake about it, it’s NOT God’s will that any child or adult, mutilate his or her body to pretend to change genders. It is NOT God’s will that there is rioting, murder, hatred, in our government, in our streets, and in our homes. Those things happen when we step OUTSIDE of God’s will.

That is the sovereignty of God. It offends me, and I believe it offends God when well-meaning Christians say God’s will will always be done in the world. Look around. Is this the God you know?

If God’s will is always done, then it was kind of ridiculous for Jesus to teach us to pray: “Thy will be done.” How unnecessary for Him to pray in the garden, “Thy will be done.” If for no other reason, Jesus’ prayers help me understand that God’s will isn’t a given.

Do we want God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? Then we need to CHOOSE to obey Him. It’s our disobedience that results in Him giving us over to our sinful nature. That is a repeated truth in His Word.

Read Proverbs. Hear God explain over and over what wisdom is and where it comes from. Let Him tell you about righteousness and the consequences of rejecting righteousness. Choose wisdom. Choose obedience. Choose God’s will, and lovingly yet firmly stand up against sin that is so obviously controlling our society.

Your voice matters. Do you still think abortion is a matter of a woman’s control over her body? Do you still shop at Target? Do you still pay for Disney+, vacation at Disney World? Do you drink Bud Lite and buy Ford? Why?

Why participate in their blatant sin against God? Does that sound wise according to Scripture?

Come on, Church. We can do better. THAT’S God’s will.