Tag: foolishly

2.w. But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?

2 Chronicles 25:14  After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offerings to them. Therefore the Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?” But as he was speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”

2 Chronicles 16:9     For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

2 Chronicles 19:2    But Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD.

Judges 2:2    and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?

Psalms 96:5    For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

Jeremiah 2:5    Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

We can read these verses and say to ourself that clearly, we would not have done as these people did, where they abandoned God and did things and followed after things that were foolish and apart from God.  We don’t have to look very far into our thoughts and actions to know we too have the same tendencies, foolish ideas, lack of understanding, lack of wholehearted commitment.  We get pulled and pushed aside by the tidal waves of self-interest, self-satisfaction, and self-serving busyness into the ocean of neglect and complacent service to God.   

What changed in these people’s heart and mind that they so easily were drawn away?  Have you ever cleaned and organized your garage and made a commitment to keep it that way, only to have the same type of mess 4-6 months later?  You wonder how did it go from organized to mess?  It is not as though you didn’t know what cleaned and organized looked like. It is not as though you intended it to happen or planned to have it happen.  You did not set a commitment in your heart to make it happen, but yet it did. So what happened?

The commitment faded. The desire changed. The ability to see the change was lost.  Something else replaced that commitment.  It is not that we intentionally chose to make the garage a mess again but rather we chose not to keep it in order.  The same is true for humbly serving, honoring, following, trusting, and obeying God.  It is not that we intentionally chose to keep our heart from Him but rather we chose to give our heart and mind to ourself.  Keeping God first closes the door to self.  Being mindful of the internal tidal wave of “Self” wants, desires, plans, and thoughts is a good place to start to keep the garage of our heart, mind, and soul clean.  Being mindful of this requires us then to take appropriate measures to ensure they stay clean.  For the example; you could commit to truly looking at your garage every night before calling it a day.  You could commit to not allow yourself to go back inside until it was put back in order.  You could commit to never leave your garage when something was out of place.  You could take a picture of what organized looked like and then compare each area of organization against that picture to ensure you were not allowing yourself to drift.

You see the same is true with our commitment to humbly serving, honoring, following, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ.  We don’t choose to make our lives a mess.  We choose not to keep them in line with God’s word.  Herein lies the problem.  This intentional choice to “Not” is going to yield every bit as bad results as if we have intentionally chosen to make our lives a mess.  The commitment must be firm.  Paul said “Stand Firm”. He also said to “take every thought captive.” And, to “put on the full armor of God”.

The picture we can compare our heart, mind, and soul garage too is the word of God.  If we commit to comparing every thought, word, and action against this then we will have eyes and ears sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Do not allow drift in your life because you have been neglectful and complacent.  We have brothers and sisters in Christ that can help us see drift in our lives when we have no longer found time to spend in His word.  Each of us should commit to helping others in this struggle with self and point them always to the worthiness of Jesus Christ and the word of God.

132. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us

2 Samuel 24:10  But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

Psalms 32:5     I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

1 John 3:20-21    for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

Proverbs 28:13     Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Micah 7:8-9     Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.  I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.

1 John 1:9     If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Sin sure has a way into our lives.  It can sneak in through the doors of pride, lust, greed, and anger.  It comes at us with subtle little morsels that entice self-indulgence, self-importance, self-want, and selfishness.  Are we to think we are immune to these attacks?  Are we able to even see them for what they are?  Do our eyes and ears of our mind see and hear them coming and are they able to form a defense to fight the attacks?

(1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”)   (Ephesians 6:14 “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance,”)

Every day is a battle against sin and we certainly need to be prepared for battle.  Stay in His word.  Have a humble heart toward God.  Live to honor and glorify, serve, follow, and obey Him with your eyes on eternity and not on things of this world.

22. Do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned.

Numbers 12:1  Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again.

We all can have temptation to see things and question the hand of God in them.  We all can have the temptation of seeing ourselves much higher and better than we are.  Here we see Aaron and his wife wanting to be recognized for being ones whom God used for speaking His message to the people.  They spoke badly of Moses to lift themselves up.  Do you ever wonder why God would include these aspects of history in His word?  Could it be to give us insight into human nature and how easy it is for us to get sideways in our thinking?

We get thoughts that come into our head and if they are not recognized for what they are there is a good chance for them to take root.  Once they have taken root they seem to grow and produce fruit that is not God-honoring.  In fact, they produce works of sinful desire, greed, pride, lust, hate, prejudice, and love of self.

We can recognize these thoughts for what they are when we spend time in His word each day seeking God to speak to your heart and mind on how we might honor, serve, glorify and obey Him.  It is not rocket science to know that what we spend feeding our mind will eventually come out “whatever a man sows so shall he reap”  Good or bad.

Remember it only takes one conscious decision to commit to reading His word, and likewise, it only takes one to neglect it.