Tag: desolation

3.a. That he may turn again to the remnant of you

2 Chronicles 30:1  Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

Zechariah 1:3-4    Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 11:7    For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

Jeremiah 44:16    “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

When you read God’s word do you look for warnings or just promises of blessings? They both go hand in hand.  We are blessed when we commit to God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.  We are blessed when we commit to honor, serve, glorify, worship, praise, follow, trust and obey Jesus Christ.  God’s word speaks warnings and blessings but requires us to read it and want to hear it speak into our heart and mind.  We get to choose if we hear it and allow it to permeate our heart and mind.

Time and time again we read of a generation of people and nations that either no longer seek God or they commit anew to seek and serve Him with humble heart and mind.  Hezekiah saw the evil actions of Ahaz and what power the King had in leading people toward or away from God.  He chose to commit to lead the people back to true worship of and commitment to God.

We need to be mindful of how easy it is to be lead away from God when our commitment is lukewarm.  When we are lukewarm we seem to have an outward appearance of commitment but our ears are closed and our hunger and thirst for His speaking into and leading our lives is only with our lips and not with our heart and mind.

God knows and as well we know if our heart is being filled with an appetite and hunger for Him.  We do well to examine our heart and what is residing in it.  Commitment to honoring and living for Jesus Christ requires us to place Him first and always be mindful of our sinful nature and wandering away from Him.  Staying in His word with a desire to be blameless and holy for the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ will keep the door to our heart and mind open to hear Him speak and lead.

155. Did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him

1 Kings 16:25  Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.

1 Kings 16:29  In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him

1 Kings 14:9    but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,

Micah 6:16     For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.

We can see the way sin creeps into a nation and affects the people.  There is a progression and it is not for the better.  Jeroboam started them down a watered down bath of lukewarm following after God by trying to serve both God and man-made idols.  Their hearts were divided.  And so the decline started and the snowball rolling down the path away from God gained speed.  We see Omri doing more harm than those before him and his son Ahab doing more harm than his father. Ahab married Jezebel and went further away from God.

When we take neutral stands on moral wrongs and even start embracing those things that are clearly not honoring or glorifying God, there are reasons these things occur in our lives.  Primarily it happens when we lose the desire to humbly serve and honor God.  It happens when we let the busyness of life overtake our heart and mind.  It happens when we no longer hunger and thirst for His word.  It happens when we neglect our time with Him and become complacent in our want to grow in understanding and knowledge of God and His love for us demonstrated through Jesus Christ.  It happens when we start comparing ourselves against others and thinking we are good enough and not spending time in His word.  It happens when we no longer seek His leading in our daily life.  It happens when we water down sin and try to make sense of why what we are doing is not that bad.  It happens when we get comfortable with our current state of following and obeying Him.  It happens when we no longer see a need for growth.  It happens when we close our ears and close our heart to what God is speaking.

No matter what we think, it is a conscious choice to step away from God’s word and neglect His leading.  It is a conscious choice to no longer seek Him, honor Him, serve Him, follow Him, obey Him, and trust Him.  These conscious choices are what waters down our walk with Him and are the very things we try to justify in our daily walk. There is not justification and there is no time this is right.  It is always wrong and will always lead to paths that take us further and further away from God.

Bear the Consequences

“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences”

Psalms 60:3  You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

Psalms 71:20    You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.

Daniel 9:12     He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity.

Psalms 75:8   For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Isaiah 51:17   Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

Jeremiah 25:15    Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

Habakkuk 2:16    You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!

Revelation 16:19   The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.

Ezekiel 23:27  Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore. “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. Thus says the Lord GOD: “You shall drink your sister’s cup that is deep and large; you shall be laughed at and held in derision, for it contains much; you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria; you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its shards, and tear your breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.

“You will bear the consequences” Do you ever think of the consequences of neglect of God’s word, having no desire to be led by Him, seeking only self interests, giving little to the support of His church, giving little in the support of others, having a life that mirrors those who have no thought of God, being to busy to praise Him, thank Him, trust Him, believe in Him, cling to Him, rely on Him……. The picture given in these scriptures give clear indication that those who do these things will drink the cup of His wrath.  History shows us that time after time and generation after generation man comes close to God and, in time of blessing, soon loses heart, mind and soul for God.  Why do we so easily forget and turn away from God?  Do we cherry pick the scriptures that speak of forgiveness, love, mercy, hope, faith, help, joy, refuge, power, purpose, might….. and forget those that say fear God, seek Him with all your heart, mind and soul, praise Him, pray to Him, give thanks to Him, meditate on His word in the morning and evening, trust Him fully, humble serve Him, forgive others, allow yourself to be wronged, do not seek your own self interests, listen to Him, obey Him, follow Him, and “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences”   “You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.”  “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare,”  “for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD”.  We live in a time of blessing, mercy, and grace but know this – we all will give account for our actions, thoughts, intents.  How sad would it be to know of the great love, mercy, and grace of God, and live in such a way that neglects knowing humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying Him – and at the end of life this side of eternity hear these words “DEPART FROM ME FOR I NEVER KNEW YOU”