"Then they will not be like their ancestors - stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God. The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle. They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His instructions." - Psalm 78:8-10
The first thing that caught my eye about these verses was in verse eight: "...refusing to give their hearts to God." Look at the definition of "refusing."
refusing: to decline to accept (something offered); to express a determination not to do; to decline to submit to.
I think that's where America is today. With all of the rules about "tolerance" and respecting everyone's beliefs. As far as I can tell...that means accepting and tolerating every belief EXCEPT for Christianity. And, that's Biblical. We're gonna be hated because Jesus was hated. ((John 15:18-20)) But it stems from our ancestors forgetting to tell us about what Jesus did. Reverend Eppling says that changing the world starts with one person...well, what if YOU are that person? What if I'M that person? The thing is...you have to step out of your comfort zone. And then stick it out even when things get difficult. (I'm learning that right now.)
After that, it talks about the warriors of Ephraim. Why? In 1 Chronicles 12:30, it says that the men of Ephraim were "mighty men of valor (NAS)." But where do you think they got their strength? (Hint: From God.) But in verse nine, it says that they warriors of Ephraim were armed with their bows, and in the midst of that they turned away from God. And THEN what did they do? They ran away. Why do you think? Because they weren't so valiant without God.
We do the same thing. We get arrogant and think we can handle something on our own...and right as it looks like we have everything under control by ourselves...You know that moment? Right then? Well, that's when we lose it. That's when we get SO puffed up with pride that we decide we don't even need God anymore...which is very wrong. We have zero power by ourselves. Negative power, actually. We mess ourselves up with sin, and then we're worse off than when we started. We need God's strength. You are the source of my strength. You are the strength of my life...
So, what do we learn from this?
1)We're the generation that everyone expects to change the world. So why don't we? Why don't we give the world the TRUTH straight up? They don't need your sugar-coated version of the Bible. They need Jesus. In all the glory of the Cross, they need Him. My Jesus shed His blood for me. And I shouldn't be ashamed to tell other people that just because it may offend them.
2)We can't get so prideful to think that we can live our life on our own. Because we can't. Every breath we take is supported by the God of the Universe. Every second of our lives is known by Him. And it's not fair for us to take credit for that.
3 comments:
Giving your heart to God... its a scary thought to a lot of people to imagine giving their heart away to something or someone. This world is far from perfect, and people are let down by others, and hearts are broken. But the beauty of giving your heart to God is that He's not of this world. God isn't like another human, He's perfect, and not only that, He loves us. If we give our hearts to Him, He can manage the stress and hardships of our lives infinitely better than we could on our own. Yet our pride causes us to think that we can do it all on our own. This entry was really helpful to me. A lot of the same ideas have been on my mind as well recently. :) Thanks for posting :)
good stuff Rina. I'm proud of you.
This is wonderful, and I'm amazed by the way God teaches us. i like to read what he is teaching you.
Post a Comment