July 09, 2015
The foundational belief upon which everything stands in Christianity is the first phrase of the Bible: "In the beginning God created." (Genesis 1:1). This absolute sovereignty of God over everything that follows in history demands our attention.
He is preeminent. He is above all. He is the source, the progenitor. Nothing happened in the universe without His initiation. Nothing happens now over which He is not Lord.
Our thoughts, to the contrary, bring us to ruin. God reminds us of this throughout the Bible because we are masterful forgetters. "Surely My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand together," He says through Isaiah and then follows that statement with this admonition: "Assemble, all of you, and listen!" (Isaiah 48:13-14)
THE STORY BEHIND OUR PAIN
This is our great problem. He designed us, and we will not listen! And as a result, everything has gone awry.
If you want to discover why things are out of sync on the earth, in our nation, in your city, your church, your home, and your life, then look no further for the source. We have not listened and obeyed.
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, and your offspring like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.” (Isaiah 48:17-19)
The leadership that we need, the order and well-being and righteousness and family harmony we search for is ours for the experiencing if we will pay attention to God's commandments.
THE HEALTHY PLACE
Everything of value flows from God’s presence. Our proud, mindless rebellion pulls us from that position to our destruction. In our arrogance, we think we have a better idea than the One who created us. It is the watch saying to the Watchmaker or the car saying to its engineer, "I would run better if you will just let me do it my way, not the way you designed."
C.S. Lewis said it best in Mere Christianity:
“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there.”
THE WAITING REMEDY
God allows the natural consequences of our sin to mount so we will be brought to desperation. He is waiting for us to listen. If you are ready now and long to know something different than the current state of affairs, then turn off the incessant media babble, dust off your Bible, get on your knees before the Sovereign King, and listen.
Pay attention to all that He is saying. Cry out for His presence and the empowering of His Spirit (which alone gives us the ability to obey) and follow every prompting of His Spirit and illumination from His Word.
There simply is no other way.
Father, forgive us. Cleanse us from our incessant pride that causes us to ignore You. That makes us strut in our independence, lack of prayer, and unwillingness to obey even the simplest of commands. Lead us back to listen intently and respond immediately. Let us glorify You by glad surrender to Your leadership. Help us find the joy of trusting our Maker once again.
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