They said to Moses, "You
speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we
die." —Exodus 20:19
“We don’t consciously and
deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His
commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful
disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love
Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been
showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for
ignoring Him.[…] we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or
tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking
to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying,
“Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said
is probably God’s truth.” CHAMBERS
What is it that causes us to
love something or someone? To want to
give our life’s devotion and trust to it?
What is it that causes us to turn to something or someone else. It is a choice we make. I believe that we believe we can find greater
satisfaction in the new something or that new someone. When we are born again, we find ourselves in
a place where we can find no greater satisfaction. God is sufficient to meet all of our
needs. But that doesn’t prove to be
sufficient does it? Our wants rise
up. Our fears creep in. And we turn from God and seek satisfaction
from another source. Ourselves, the
world. Our hearts are divided in their
devotion. When God said “you shall have
no other gods before me” (Exodus 20), He was saying that we should look to Him
as the source of our satisfaction in life.
Instead we live a life of feigned spirituality while we struggle in our vain
quest to find satisfaction elsewhere.
Even that “form of godliness” is
evidence that we have abandoned our “first” love. We think we can deceive others when it is God
who sees the heart. Our focus turns from God to other gods as the source that
will meet our needs. Friend this is a persistent
problem for us, which is why God has spoken to it so often in the Bible. What
are you facing today that causes you to turn your eyes to something or someone
else other than your father in heaven? I
want to encourage you to stop what you are doing and “look to the hills”. ELGIN
(Psalm 121) “ I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help
come from? My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches
over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither
slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your
right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord
will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch
over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (my grandmother’s favorite psalm)
Charley Elgin
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