Being Right in God’s Eyes
Part of campaigning is being in parades. Saturday was Fort Collins St. Patrick’s Day Parade. First parade I have been in for years. It was a great event even with cool weathers and some early morning rain.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…. “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you.” Deuteronomy 12:8,9 ESV
The greatest temptation and challenge for humanity is to make up and live by their own rules and desire. It is seen throughout history; it is seen in God’s people.
The verse above given as a warning from Moses to the generation that was inheriting the promise land, it what would happen in the next generation. The final verse of Judges pronounces the state of the nation, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25 ESV)
This began with a generation that, “….did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10 ESV) They began living as if there was no God and they failed to see or recognize the Lord that was in their midst. This is what Moses was trying to warn them about.
God’s law was going to be fully enforced as the “law of the promise land.” As they came to a “place of rest” and had secure homes and land and crops and possessions they were to live under the leadership of the Lord.
God’s people were to destroy the false gods and altars and all signs of idolatry of the nations they were dispossessing from the land. Why was this important, because the Lord said, “You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.” (Deuteronomy 12:4 ESV)
This one act of disobedience would be the “Achilles heel” to the Israelites. They began to co-exist with the idolatrous nations and soon as Moses warned their hearts were drawn away to do one of two things. To worship the false gods or to add the worship of false gods to the worship of the Lord God. The other affront to the Lord was to worship the Lord God as if He were an idol. In others words, they selected how they would serve the Lord instead of following the instructions from the Lord as to how they were to serve Him.
This can sound all too familiar. We see it in our day. People may not reject the Lord, but they worship the Lord and believe in the Lord in a way that is the making of their own minds and hearts. As a result they make the true God in to a false god.
Compromise and accommodation may be appropriate as a political strategy, but it is deadly when it comes to serving the Lord with all of our hearts, soul, mind and strength.
Prayer for today…. Lord make us aware of the areas of our life we have allowed to be influence more by the thoughts of the world around, more than by obedience to You. May we be those who do not fail to experience Your power and Your and ways. In the words of the old hymn, “keep us true to you.”