Devotionals
There comes a time when you just can’t take anymore, and God was squarely at that place. Israel had successfully broken every single law and command that He had instituted. They ignored His pleas for their repentance. King after king after king had followed in the ways of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and followed other gods. They built Asherah poles. They burned incense in the high places. They practiced sorcery and basically behaved identically to the pagan nations surrounding them. And this was just the stuff people could see.
In II Kings 17:9(a) Israel’s greatest failing is revealed: “The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right.” If Israel was practicing idolatry and sorcery where everyone could see, what on earth were they doing in private?
We like to think if no one “sees” us doing something wrong, we don’t have to take responsibility for it. Our culture now feeds these secret appetites to the point of gluttony. People don’t have to go to seedy places in order to find pornographic materials. They can download it in the privacy of their own homes; maybe even unbeknownst to their own families. “No one has to know” and “I’m not hurting anyone else” have become the world’s justifications for everything from sexual preference to reading materials. Privacy has replaced morality as our highest standard.
We’d like to think that these practices are strictly in the realm of the unchurched, but think again. Statistics show a growing number of church-going folks are engaging in the same type of behaviors. We want to believe that what people don’t see doesn’t matter, but we’d be wrong.
David in Psalm 139 describes how completely God knows us. There is nothing we do that escapes God’s notice. From the time we were conceived until the time of our deaths and beyond, God has complete knowledge of our every word, thought and move. In this Psalm, David describes the futility of trying to escape from an omnipresent God. In verses 23 and 24, David acknowledges God sovereignty saying, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
No matter how slick we may think we are, we’re not good enough to hide anything from God.
Jesus told his disciples that what was done in secret would be proclaimed from the rooftops. Stuff just doesn’t stay secret for long. Eventually we tell on ourselves; perhaps not with our mouths, but certainly with the fruits of our lives.
In the case of Israel, “… the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.” (II Kings 17:20)
What will God have to do in order to get our attention?
© Sandra Perry 2005
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Father God, deliver us from evil, especially those things that we try so hard to keep covered up. Search us and create clean hearts in us. Amen. Powerful article, my friend, full of truth and conviction!
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