A Warning

When we get messages from God, we need to take them so seriously that they become a part of what we eat and drink, sleep and think.

I've been reading through the book of Isaiah. God continues to warn Israel that if they keep sinning, ignoring His commands, not obeying what He has distinctly told them, then He will back away and allow the enemy control.

And that's what happened. Israel heard God's command not to entertain their neighbors but to go forward...they were told not to marry those who honored foreign gods, they were told to be clean and pure and not live as the world lived; they were told to worship God only, and it was God only that they should seek....they heard God's voice, they said they understood, kind of like us saying "Yeah, I know"....and yet, they did what they wanted.

I read chapter 10 today. God is allowing Israel's arch enemy to conquer them. He's turning His back on HIS beloved people's sinful ways and allowing them to have the life they believe they wanted.

Their excuses?
Well, there's no one else around we can hang with.
Their lives are so exciting and ours is boring.
Their worship is so much more exciting than ours.
Well...at least they worship....maybe not the right way, but they worship.

As I have read these chapters these last 10 days, I began to remember a verse in Psalm that has always "put the fear of God" in me. If nothing else would make me want to change my wicked ways, Psalm 106:13-15 always gets my attention.

"Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They couldn't wait for His counsel. In the wilderness, their desires ran wild, testing God's patience in that dry land. So He gave them what they asked for, but he sent a plague along with it."

Are you having a desert experience right now? Are you not hearing from God, so you entertain those God told you to stay away from?

I walked in that desert several years ago...allowed my thoughts to override God's thoughts.

I still have the scars of disobedience.