Egypt – Page 14 – Praying Pint

1.x.

2 Chronicles 12:1 When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.” When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. And when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.

So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

Deuteronomy 8:10-14    And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.  “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,  lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,  and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,  then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

Deuteronomy 32:18    You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

1 Kings 9:9     Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Jeremiah 2:31   And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to you’?

Hosea 13:6-8    but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.  So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.  I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open.

After 5 years of prosperity and blessings, Rehoboam abandons God. Remember for three years the Levites, priests, and others who fled the idol worship brought on by Jeroboam gave security to Rehoboam. He received and the influx of God-honoring, God following, and God obeying fellow Israelites. What has happened that drew Rehoboam away from following God and all of the blessings that had come during Solomons time?

We never know how slippery the slope is away from God. We never know what it is that fills the first void of the heart that no longer seeks and desires God. What we do know is that we need to be on guard of our heart and mind. We must take inventory of what is actively trying to pull us away. It would be nice if this pulling came like a roaring lion and gave plenty of notice of how it will attack our seeking and desiring God. We would have reason to fear and run to the arms of Jesus Christ. We would know of our pending destruction and see a reason to stay close to God.

However, it is never like this. The pull comes like the sweet taste of honey and what can be wrong with a bit of honey? It slips into our inner being disguised and satisfies some natural desire or lust. It plants a seek and we don’t even know it and before long the seed has taken root in our heart and mind. The leaves blind our eyes and plug our ears so that we no longer see things of God or hear His call to us. We have been over grown by what appeared to be sweet honey because we chose that first step away from God. Had we stayed close to Him we would have tasted and known the bitterness temping us. It would have been clear as the sun at noon.

Why do you think these examples were given to us in God’s word? They were given to us to keep us aware of the temptations of our heart and soul if we do not intentionally choose to give all our heart, soul, and mind to God. Seek and desire Him above all else and He will give you the desire of your heart. How many lives come to disaster by the lure of the sweet taste of honey?

1.v. But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him.

Image may contain: outdoor, text that says 'You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequence of your choice.'

2 Chronicles 10:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” He said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” And the king answered them harshly; and forsaking the counsel of the old men, King Rehoboam spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by God that the Lord might fulfill his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of you to your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So all Israel went to their tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and the people of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam had to make a choice on who to listen to for advice. He did not choose wisely. He chose to listen to those around him who had no apparent walk with God. He chose to elevate himself to greatness by force and harshness. He chose to stroke his ego and pride. The people did not follow after him nor was he blessed by God.

Every day we get to make choices. We choose to whom we will listen to. We choose what thoughts we are going to take action on. We choose if we are going to honor God in our thoughts, words, and actions. We get to choose to whether or not we seek and desire God’s word. We get to choose to believe in Jesus Christ. We get to choose to deny self and live for humbly serving, honoring, glorifying, worshiping, following, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ. We get to choose to listen to the Holy Spirit leading us. We get to choose to love, forgive, and repent and turn away from sin. We get to choose to stay in God’s word.

Our choices will paint a picture of what we think about, who we care about, and cannot be hidden.

1.u. Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!

2 Chronicles 7:11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

“But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Leviticus 26:40-41    “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,  so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,

Ezekiel 33:11     Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live;

Deuteronomy 4:29-30   But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.  When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.

Lamentations 3:40-41    Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:

Isaiah 45:19    I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right.

After Solomon completed the temple and offered prayer and dedication of it to God, they sacrificed offerings to the Lord for 7 days and the people went back to their homes joyful and glad of heart because of their prosperity. Can you remember times of overwhelming joy and gladness? Can you remember the times of when you were so aware of God’s provision and you were moved to a sincere deep thankfulness?

In times of prosperity don’t we tend to lose sight of God and walk more closely with the world? The weird thing about this is that we come to a time and place in our life when we surrender to God because of circumstances/troubles/ trials and our faith is turned fully to God and our belief and only hope is placed into His hands. We wait expectantly and then by the grace and mercy of God we see His deliverance, either through giving us strength and courage to get through it or by a work of His hand blessing us. We come out the other side closer to God, joyful, thankful, and gladness filling our heart. But…… Then…..

It seems we are enticed away from the very presence of God that brought this joy, thankfulness, and gladness. In our blessing and prosperity, our eyes turn toward the worldly and shinny things, everything but God. Do we think His presence is no longer needed? Do we think we can last, walking life paths without Him? Do we think we can stand against the attacks, temptations, and deceptions of Satan and our sinful nature? Do we think God is not worthy of all of our heart, mind, and soul, all of the time?

If we give thought to these questions we certainly will arrive at the answer “NO”. The problem is we don’t think about these questions. We allow ourselves to skip a day where He is not our first thought, praise, hope, and strength. This day so easily turns into weeks, months, years, and then we find ourselves lost and not knowing how to find our way back into His presence. “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin”

197. How would our life change were we to give our whole heart, soul, and mind to God?

2 Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 13:5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

We read all of the actions Josiah took after he made a covenant to walk after the Lord. We went city by city and destroyed the false idols, altars, and anything that was a compromise in serving God with their whole heart, mind, and soul. What a testimony to a changed life. What a testimony to humbly serving, following, honoring, trusting, relying on, and obeying God.

How would our life change were we to give our whole heart, soul, and mind to God? What would be changing in how we think? What would change in where we go? What would change in what we say? What would change in how we act? What would change in what we allow to influence our lives? What would change in how much time we spend in His word? What would change?

When we come to God’s word with hunger and thirst for it, when we come to God’s word with a seeking and a desire, when we come to God’s word with a want to hear and be led by the Holy Spirit, we will filled with a continual hunger for more and more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of Jesus Christ, and we will be able to discern the deceptions and illusions this world has to offer.

191. “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

2 Kings 21:10 And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

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. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.

1 Samuel 3:11     Then the LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

Jeremiah 19:3    You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.

Amos 3:2   “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Revelation 6:15-17    Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Stepping away from God, turning away from God, blinding your eyes to seeing Him, closing your ears to hear Him will always lead us down paths far from God and sooner or later coming to a place where we start replacing our love and devotion to Him with love and devotion to the world and what it has to offer. We fool ourselves into thinking that we will not have consequences for our slow decline away from God. First, we lose focus and with this, we lose an ear to hear the leading of the Holy Spirit and with this, we become neglectful and complacent with God’s word, and when this happens we have lost the ability to have its influence in our lives. So what fills this void? Things of this world fill the void. Busyness fills this void. Sports, Netflix, Google, G-mail, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, FaceBook, work, hobbies, all chasing after things that will never satisfy and wonder why we feel empty and void of the power, strength, courage, hope, and Love of God.

There is no replacing God’s word and time with Him from our daily walk but by which there will be a missed opportunity for growth, a missed opportunity to hear Him speak into your heart, a missed opportunity to speak with Him.

Don’t miss a day with Him and His word.

184. On what do you rest this trust of yours?

2 Kings 18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

1 Kings 13:18   And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.

Amos 3:6    Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

John 19:10-11   So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”  Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

We have to always be mindful of lying spirits speaking lies into the hearts and minds of others speaking to us. This is always a possibility and for us to know the will of the Lord in all circumstances we must have discernment, wisdom, and understanding which can only come from God speaking into our lives and us having willing ears to hear and obedient heart and mind. We know the prince of this world is here to entice us to stay in our sinful nature and apart from God by promising things the world cannot give; such as peace, hope, satisfaction, joy, refuge, to name a few. These lies are believed by many who should know better.

When it comes to things of God and our Lord and Savior, we will not find them apart from His word, time in His word seeking and desiring to be fed, led, and rooted in His word. People will say many things and some of it may be the truth and some of it may be false. Too often we hang on words that are said from not Spirit-filled worldly people. We dwell and think about it as though it has great meaning rather than putting it into the context of “Worldly”. When it has been put into context we can then see it through the lens of scripture and know our God is above all of this and more powerful and all of this and more than able to handle of this and will encourage, empower, and guide us.

Stay close to God through His word and prayer believing in His leading and ability to lead you in thought and action.

181. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear

2 Kings 17:7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God

Deuteronomy 31:27   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!

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.

Jeremiah 7:26    Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

Romans 2:4-5   Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Hebrews 3:7-8     Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,  do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

The starting point for avoiding a hardened heart is to recognize and submit to God’s authority through His inspired Word. To learn from God, we must submit to His inspired Word. As Paul says, these things “were written for our instruction”. We disobey or ignore them to our own peril (harden our heart). The starting point is that we hear His voice with a heart soft to the voice of God, the word of God. Thus, to avoid hardness of heart, we must submit to the authority of God’s Word and we must do business with God on the heart level. The only way that we can know God’s ways are as He has revealed them to us in the Scriptures. We can’t plead ignorance. We can’t protest, “But, God, I didn’t know”. When we have time but choose to neglect His word in our life, in our thoughts, in our heart, we have chosen to harden our heart and stiffen our neck against God. We follow the crowd and what is approved by society/culture rather than being led by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Your heart is either hardening against God because you are resisting His sovereign ways with you, or it is growing softer toward God because you are submitting to His Word and His ways. For God’s word to be active in your life, it must be actively desired in your heart and in your daily life. If it is only an occasional reading there is no softening of your heart to His word. Choose to be led, encouraged, strengthened, empowered, and softened by His word each day

141. The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

1 Kings 9:1 As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

1 Chronicles 28:9     “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

2 Chronicles 7:19-22    “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,  then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.  And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’  Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

2 Chronicles 15:2     and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Joshua 23:15-16     But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you,  if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

Eric Watkins; “Following God demands not only external obedience but also obedience of the heart. God alone is worthy of their love and worship. No other god had saved them; no other god could uphold them; and with no other god would the Shepherd of Israel share their affection and loyalty.”

“Sadly, simply stating and restating His expectations did not elicit the love and faithfulness God desired from Israel. In time, Israel’s heart, mirroring our own, longed for other gods and wandered from the commands of the covenant. God would have to do something radical, something invasive, something His people could not do for themselves in order to free them and us from the infidelity of our hearts.”

“As the Lord went before Israel, so Jesus went ahead of us, all the way to the cross. He showed us what it meant to have “no other god” before His Father in heaven, for Jesus not only obeyed the law of the Lord, He also loved the Lord His God with all His heart, soul, and might. His love and loyalty toward His heavenly Father were as unmistakable as His love and loyalty toward us. His love for His Father in heaven was displayed in the way He loved those whom His Father loved and in the way He gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.”

“As the old hymn says, our hearts are “prone to wander … prone to leave the God [we] love.” Day after day, we need to be reminded of God’s unfailing love for us in Christ. We also need to walk in newness of life in loving obedience toward God, by keeping Him first in our hearts. We are Christ’s church, and in Him we have been washed, redeemed, and loved. We love and obey His commands because, to paraphrase another hymn, “From heaven He came and sought us to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought us and for our life He died.”

We don’t commit to and serve God out of fear but rather because of who God is and the mercy, grace, and love extended to us through Jesus Christ. When our eye’s lose sight for just a second of the sacrifice for Jesus made for our salvation and redemption the world is quick to fill our heart and mind with other gods and things to offer satisfaction of the flesh. We expose our soul to unlimited paths away from the comforting arms of Jesus when our eyes are focused elsewhere.

139. For there is no one who does not sin

1 Kings 8:46 “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace). Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

How do we know if there is sin in our life? How do we know if we are active in our walk with God? How do we know if our walk is worthy of honoring God?

“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin.” “ Psalms 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.” “Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? “Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” “Isaiah 64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” “1 John 1:8-10 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I fear that we are thinking we are active in our walk with God and that our life is honoring Him but His word is far from our heart, mind, and soul. This is an intentional choice being made every single day to neglect His word, live for self, and give no thought about serving, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying God on a deeper level each day. How can we say we are committed Christians and we spend little to no time in His word with the single thought of to know and understand Jesus Christ more and more so that we would honor and serve and become very aware of sin in our life.

Turning a blind eye or deaf ear to God’s word does not give us a pass on the sin in our life.

106. Warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.

1 Samuel 15:22 “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Psalms 51:16-17     For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Proverbs 21:3    To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Isaiah 1:17   learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Jeremiah 7:22-23     For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.  But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Hosea 6:6    For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:6-8     “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Ecclesiastes 5:1      Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

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.

God is clear about obedience. Obey My voice, I desire steadfast love and knowledge of God, love justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God, draw near, guard your steps, broken spirit and contrite heart. He says obedience is far and above sacrifice. So how do we know if we are being obedient????? This is a good question to ask and a good question to answer.

To understand how to be obedient we should know how God speaks into our life. He speaks through His word. Hebrews 4:12; “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” He gives the Holy Spirit to indwell those who believe in, trust in, cling to, and rely on Jesus Christ. John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” And He speaks through what He has shown and continues to show us Romans 1:19 “For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

His word brought our heart and mind to the place of knowing sin, repentance, and forgiveness so that may know we have been saved from the judgment of sin and have been given eternal life through Jesus Christ. This is given to all who believe and is rightly called being born again. Born not of flesh and blood but of God. John 1:13 “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

The first step of obedience has 4 parts, first is belief, second confessing sin, third is repentance, fourth is trusting in/relying on/clinging to Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross. This initial act of obedience led to a new birth and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

A life of obedience is a desire/choice to listen, a desire/choice to follow, a desire/choice to act/obey. There is little chance of obedience when there is little desire for His word in your life. There is little chance of being influenced and directed by the indwelling Holy Spirit when there is little desire for His word in your life. We cannot honor Jesus Christ without desiring to be obedient. Without His word and a deep desire to know, understand, and humbly serve, honor, follow, and obey Him we deceive ourselves into thinking we are obedient. His word is to be the bread of life, living water, and the air that we breathe. I fear our society/culture has influenced us to the point we cannot see that we are starving, dehydrating, suffocating, and either dead or close enough to being dead that the depth of His word has no place in our heart, mind, and soul, and the understanding of obedience has been diluted to non-existence.

An obedient life must have a continual daily desire to be in, listen too, and act on His word for the sole purpose of humbly serving, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying Jesus Christ. Live obediently. Seek and desire His word each day with a heart seeking to honor Him.