The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 81:11-12,
"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices."
Here is a frightful judgment: God giving people "over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices." In this case it is the people of Israel who had a proclivity to turn from their God to the fake religion of idol worship.
God had commanded the nation, "Hear me, my people, and I will warn you— if you would only listen to me, Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me." Verses 8-9. This, however, was something the nation could not seem to keep from.
God required the nation of Israel to worship only him, something he wanted in place prior to sending his Son to the nation. I suspect one of the reasons may have been that when Jesus Christ revealed himself to the people of Israel at his first coming, God wanted the issue to be only about Jesus Christ and whether his people would embrace him in faith, thus taking away any excuse the nation might otherwise have (such as, "How could we be expected to embrace your Son since we don't even know you?"). However, that is merely conjecture on my part. I do believe God meets us all more than halfway in many ways and takes all away all our excuses for judgment day. One example of this is found in Matthew 25:41-45 when the Lord took away the excuses of the "goats" (those who failed to embrace him in faith) on his left in his judgment of them.
In any event, I shudder to think of being among those who are given "over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices." No hope, no future, nothing to look forward to except the misery of missing out on God's wonderful opportunity he holds out to all of us if we but embrace him in faith - "joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:11. All lost in exchange for a fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices."
Here is a frightful judgment: God giving people "over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices." In this case it is the people of Israel who had a proclivity to turn from their God to the fake religion of idol worship.
God had commanded the nation, "Hear me, my people, and I will warn you— if you would only listen to me, Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me." Verses 8-9. This, however, was something the nation could not seem to keep from.
God required the nation of Israel to worship only him, something he wanted in place prior to sending his Son to the nation. I suspect one of the reasons may have been that when Jesus Christ revealed himself to the people of Israel at his first coming, God wanted the issue to be only about Jesus Christ and whether his people would embrace him in faith, thus taking away any excuse the nation might otherwise have (such as, "How could we be expected to embrace your Son since we don't even know you?"). However, that is merely conjecture on my part. I do believe God meets us all more than halfway in many ways and takes all away all our excuses for judgment day. One example of this is found in Matthew 25:41-45 when the Lord took away the excuses of the "goats" (those who failed to embrace him in faith) on his left in his judgment of them.
In any event, I shudder to think of being among those who are given "over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices." No hope, no future, nothing to look forward to except the misery of missing out on God's wonderful opportunity he holds out to all of us if we but embrace him in faith - "joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:11. All lost in exchange for a fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment