Goodmorning. I need to speak out about something this morning, so please be patient with me. I feel that God led me to Scripture and then led me to share this with you.
God led me to the book of Exodus in the Old Testament yesterday… about how He led His people out of bondage. Then God led me to other Scripture that spoke about HIS commands and consequences for disobedience and then to stories about the wrath of God.
There’s some scary stuff in Scripture that describes what God does when his people turn from Him.
Now, I want to preempt this post by reminding you that God is a Loving and Merciful God, but I think God was reminding me about the consequences for our actions if we turn from Him.
It’s not that God doesn’t warn us…just as any good and loving Parent does …Don’t touch the fire or you’ll get burned. Don’t walk out into traffic or you may get hit by a car. Obey my rules or there will be consequences.
God has given strict guidelines for us to follow. He’s warned us many, many times in Scripture as to what will happen if we don’t Believe Him, Obey Him and Honor Him above all else.
Our loyalty to Him was so important that He made it the first Commandment that He gave to Mosses when He brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
| 1 | “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me”. |
That’s pretty straight forward.
When Jesus walked on the earth, He said the greatest commandments were to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and to Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Again, it’s pretty straight forward.
In Deuteronomy 4:24 it reminds us ” For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Deuteronomy continues to tell us that “You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess”.
Now it’s time to look at the consequences of disobedience, not putting Him First and Honoring Him as He has asked us to do.
We first learn about God’s judgment in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The first judgment we find is when Adam and Eve were thrown out of The Garden of Eden and were destined to a life of pain and suffering because of their disobedience. Because of our connection with them we have also suffered the consequences for their actions.
Later in Genesis, God judged the entire human race, with a flood that covered the earth. We all know the story. The reason for God’s wrath was once again due to humanity’s rebellion against Him. “The world was full of wickedness, idolatry and sin, fighting and lust”. (Genesis 6:5).
There was one man, however, who was faithful, named Noah. God instructed Noah to build an ark no where near water. Seemed ridiculous, but Noah obeyed. HE honored God and did exactly what he was told to do. God saved Noah and his family along with 2 of each of God’s creatures because Noah BELIEVED God knew what He was doing , was OBEDIENT and HONORED God by following His direction to a tee.
Further in Scripture, God condemned and totally destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for much the same reason and His judgment on Egypt for disloyalty and disobedience, was similar to that of Babylon, with an added curse on the Egyptian land.
Isaiah 19:2-4 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—brother will fight against brother,
neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
Psalm 94:23 He will repay them for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness; the LORD our God will destroy them.
God warned His people that He would make an example out of them, to the rest of the world, if they turned from Him.
Curses for Disobedience in Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 28:20-24
20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.[a] 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.
22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?
No. I’m not saying God gave us the covid 19 virus, but everything that’s happened in 2020 sure has been a wake up call and has gotten my attention. It’s made ME think about what is truly important and has made ME draw closer to God and be more appreciative of what I have.
Although God led me to Scripture showing me HIS anger and wrath in he Old Testament, He also led me into the New Testament, where there were abundant examples of His absolute Love for us … sending His Son, JESUS, to die for us so that we would never be separated from GOD again.
God promises to shower MANY BLESSINGS ON THOSE WHO BELIEVE, OBEY AND HONOR HIM ABOVE ALL ELSE.
Dueteronomy 28: 3-14
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. 8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.
12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.
You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
God is a merciful God and wants to love, comfort and guide us and to shower us with His MERCY and GRACE, but He is a jealous God and wants us to honor Him, obey Him and place nothing else before HIM in our lives and in our Nation.
When we fall away , He would much rather forgive us than destroy us. We are His Children and just as earthly parents need to discipline their children, He sometimes is left to do the same with us.
I often think we have gotten “TOO BIG FOR OUR BRITCHES” as my Grandmother would say. We, as individuals, as a nation and a people have fallen into the trap of believing we can do things better our selves, that we don’t need God and that its politically incorrect, somehow, to include God in our decisions, our actions or to even speak HIS NAME.
HOW SAD. HOW WRONG WE ARE.
We as a people, a nation and as individuals have a choice and we need to chose wisely and carefully before we decide to remove God from our lives.
Our Nation, The United States of America, along with many others, have literally and purposely turned their back on God.
We have already removed Him from our pledge of allegiance, removed prayer from our schools and have begun to remove God from our government. This is so dangerous.
Many, not only here but around the world, have chosen to ignore God’s commands by killing babies and justifying it, worshiping idols (worshiping people and worldly things and ambition) instead of putting God first, killing people and destroying property and lives simply because they disagree with someone’s politics or religion. Adultery, abuse, the abuse and illegal distribution of drugs and alcohol and the trafficking of human beings for money and pleasure has become a far worse epidemic than Covid 19.
Sex and violence is prominent in our media and on our streets. Visible signs of Anger and hatred far outweighs acts of love and kindness. People are more likely to sleep in or watch television than to go to church and some would rather spend money on worldly things, expensive cars, homes, clothing, etc. than to help the homeless and those in need.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US? HOW FAR DO WE NEED TO GO TO HIT BOTTOM?…Not far I’m afraid.
What has happened to us? WE have happened to US. The almighty “I” has replaced GOD…
I want to be rich. I want to be famous. I want to be successful. I want to do it MY way. I want MORE and I want it NOW!
We need to STOP. We need to turn from our evil, self centered ways and turn back to God. God would rather forgive us than to destroy us as He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We are His Children and we need to act like it.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-9 it says “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
We as a people, a Nation and as individuals need to fall on our knees and ask for God’s forgiveness and mercy. God desperately wants to forgive us. His message of forgiveness is found all through Scripture. One of the clearest and best Old Testament examples of God wanting to forgive us is found in Second Chronicles,
“…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” (2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV).
We have a choice, my friends. We are on the precipice of making the worst decisions in our existence…removing God from our lives and our Nation. We need to remember how and on what this country was founded…
“IN GOD WE TRUST”.
TODAY…In the United States Capitol the declaration “In God We Trust” is on our Nations Seal. It is prominently displayed in both the United States House and Senate Chambers although many that walk there hollowed halls seems to remember what trusting and honoring God first and treating others as we want God to treat us looks like. In God WE Trust is sung proudly in our National Anthem. It’s our National Motto and can be found displayed in many schools and libraries. It can be found on police and fire vehicles and in some states In God We Trust is required to be displayed in public buildings and on State flags. It can be found on government buildings and even available for license plates. In God We Trust should be etched on our hearts as well. We even place our hand on God’s Word when we swear in court.
All of this should remind us of WHO is in charge and WHO has our back. We need to put God first again. We need to BELIEVE, OBEY and HONOR the GOD that gave us all the freedoms that we enjoy and boast about, but there are those that want to remove God from everything , everywhere. They want to replace God. HOW CAN WE DO THAT as children of God?
REMEMBER THE CONSEQUENCES FORWARNED OF SUCH ACTIONS and DECISIONS. REMEMBER GOD’S WRATH.
If I was going to be concerned or afraid of what the future holds, I think, after reading God’s Word, that I, We, should be more concerned about what God thinks about us or our country’s actions than being worried about what foreign countries or my government would do to me, my life and my world.
We need to cling to God and He promises to never leave us if we believe, obey and honor Him.
Let’s put GOD back where HE belongs. Let’s make GOD NUMBER ONE in our NATION, our GOVERNMENT, our SCHOOLS, our PLEDGE of ALLEGIANCE, our DECISIONS, our ELECTIONS, our LAWS, our FAMILIES, our HOMES and in our HEARTS.
FOR THIS I PRAY…IN JESUS’ NAME. Amen
Blessings, VICTORIA
Believing Outside the Box 