Tag: draw near to God

14.e.  “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Malachi 3:7  From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

Deuteronomy 9:7-21     Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.  Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.

Deuteronomy 31:20    For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.

Deuteronomy 31:27-29     For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!  Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.  For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

Nehemiah 9:16-17    “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.

Acts 7:51-52     “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

Psalms 78:8-10    and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Ecclesiastes 11:9    Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Romans 10:3     For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Isaiah 65:2    I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;

James 4:8     Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Jeremiah 3:12-14   Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever.  Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.

Romans 10:21   “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

When I think about COVID and all the fear that has been instilled by continual over-reporting and misreporting from virtually every national news outlets and how the nation, states, cities, businesses, and people have reacted, I wonder if this is all it takes to turn reason and logic into fear, anger, worry, panic, stress, tension, unrest, suspicion, nervousness, etc….  Continually spreading and broadcasting pessimistic, gloomy, alarmist, hopeless, and despairing news appears to be all it takes to move nations, states, cities, businesses, and to get people to think un-rational and illogical.  At some point, individuals begin to believe it so much that anyone who thinks differently than this narrative is censored, ostracized, ignored, banished, shut out, and rejected.

So I sit here this morning and wonder what it would be like if the Word of God was broadcasted, reported, declared, distributed, transmitted, and spread in the same way and manner?  Would people’s hearts, minds, and souls be moved and turned toward God?  Would people believe in Jesus Christ?  Would people repent? Would people fear God?  Would they lose interest in things of this world and have their hope and trust in Jesus Christ and eternity?  Would truth, justice, mercy, grace, and love become a way of life and the “New Normal”?  If nations, states, cities, businesses, and people can be led by lies, half-truths, and fear would they just as easily be led by truth?

People want the truth so bad that they will believe lies to think they have it.  It is as if they will believe lies and half-truths easier and much faster than truth.  In fact, it appears as if they choose lies over truth.  And such it is with mankind where there is an intentional choice to deny, defy, neglect, and reject the truth.  Some of this denial, defiance, and rejection come from and out of a want for truth but rather than listening to the truth they turn away from it and choose to believe lies.  However, the real reason there is denial, defiance, and rejection of the things of God is within the heart of man.  I think this is why there are so many warnings in the bible to seek Jesus Christ first.  When He is first everything else can be viewed within the context of worldly and heavenly, present and future, right and wrong, truth and lies.  There should be no fear, worry, helplessness, pessimistic thoughts, panic, anger, panic, and unrest in the hearts of those who trust in Jesus Christ.  Do not let things of this world blind your hearts, minds, and souls from the truth that is eternal life-giving.  Seek Jesus, for today is the day of salvation, hope, joy, peace, power, and courage.

Restore Us

“Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”

Psalms 80:4  O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.

Isaiah 58:2     Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.  ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.

Isaiah 58:6     “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?  Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

There is a way that seems right to man but in the end it is only self seeking and is far from God.  A heart and mind that is complacent and neglects the word of God will soon find themselves far from God and not knowing it.  They become blind and deaf to the leading of the Holy Spirit and become influenced by their culture and own sinful desires.  Complacency and neglect the size of a grain of sand soon becomes a mountain with a very slippery slope away from God.  We need to be mindful of this and take firm stance with commitment to remain in His word.  Our purpose on this world it to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God.  Following Christ and being born again is not the end game.  It is the beginning with eternal consequences. Neglecting His word leaves us open to manifest our own sinful desires and become blind to that which is our purpose.  Stay in His word, desire His leading, and commit to humbly serving Him on paths that honor and glorify Him.

Even now return to Me

“ Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD”

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;”

Zechariah 1:1  In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, “The LORD was very angry with your fathers. 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.

Ezra 9:6  saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.  From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

Nehemiah 9:26  “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.

2 Chronicles 36:13  He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.  All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem.  The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.  But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

James 4:8  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Hosea 6:1   “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

It is a slippery slope away from God when your heart is not seeking to honor and glorify Him.  Many hearts have hardened and call foolish that what God has revealed to man about himself, sin, redemption, and eternity.  With great boasting they defy God, His existence, and His purpose for mankind.  In this boasting many are pulled away and lack encouragement to hold the course.  Our lives should be filled with words and actions that honor God, encourage others, and shine light into the darkest corners of the hearts of those lost and without hope.