God knew. He knew from day one that we would not listen. He knew that Adam and Eve would succumb to the temptation and not obey Him. He also knew we, today, would be as stiff-necked and self-serving and disobedient as we are now. What is the matter with us? Why can't we read God's Word and hear His voice? Why is our hearing so impaired by the wiles of the world and the attractions of things that pull us away from Him?
"If you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth." Deuteronomy 28:1.
Blessing upon blessing is guaranteed Israel. God will set them high above all the nations of the earth. But rather than follow Him, they chose idols, gods, temporal sensual pleasures. Sound familiar?
As Christians we are given instructions to follow Christ. We are in Him and He is in us. Yet so very often we turn away from His voice and follow after our own ways. We seek temporary pleasures that are sinful. We covet the wealth of others and are not willing to work for it ourselves. We demand our rights at the expense of another's and we water down the commandments of God to suit our purposes. We won't rock boats; we won't stand for righteousness; and we won't fight for change unless it is economically in our favor.
"Listen diligently?" We don't even listen in passing. And what befalls us for our apathy, we deserve. We have no excuse. God's "law is within my heart." Psalm 40:8b. God's law is no longer written on tablets of stone. We know what to do and we do not do it. And that is sin. And the wages of sin is death. And death comes in various ways, my friends. It kills our desire to love God and His ways. It destroys our hope for His ways and replaces it with the false securities of man's ways. It rewards complacency with indifference. And indifference deafens us to the voice of God.
God has a plan for us, my friends--if we "will listen diligently"...if we "will be watchful". selahV
[© SelahV Today, hariette petersen, 2008]
