Day 6

Praise the Lord everyone and how are you doing on this fabulous day that the Lord has made? I am feeling much more rested than I was yesterday and even managed to wake up and read my verses a lot earlier than intended so I feel like this is going to be the start of a wonderful day. I pray that your day goes wonderful for you as well :)

Today's verses come from Genesis chapter 11 through chapter 12 stopping at the 20th verse in chapter 12, Psalm 5:1-6, Proverbs 1:15-16, and Matthew 5:13-32.

In chapter 12 of Genesis, God tells Abram take his wife and nephew and travel away from their home and relatives to a land where God will surely bless him (Genesis 12:1-3). Can you just imagine if God were to come to you and say pack up everything and leave your family and friends to go somewhere and you not have any clue as to where you are going?

When this story was often told in church, I recall that my dad would always say that if this were to happen to our family, how hard it would be for him to explain to us that we just had to up and leave, especially if we didn't know where we were going. I'm sure it would be human nature to wonder about that especially when we are naturally curious and just leaving behind everything we know and love with no real explanation other than God said so would be hard for us to comprehend.

But God had already promised Abram that He would provide him with blessings. This was a true test of faith because Abram could have easily said "my family is here and I don't want to leave them. What am I going to tell my wife? We can't just up and leave like this." But Abram was obedient to God and did as he was told.

So often we think that we know better than God and try to do things our way instead of having faith that He knows what he's doing. This, in turn, could make a situation worse because no matter how long we try to do it our way, God will ultimately have His way and we may just be delaying the blessings He has for us.

It like when road work is occurring and we must wait in traffic. We get so impatient that we try to find a way around it because we're in so big of a hurry or just don't feel like waiting. Sometimes us looking for another way around can cause us to end up waiting even longer than we would have if we had not just been patient and waited for the work to subside. I feel that God sometimes allows us to try and do things our way just so He can step in and show us just how much simpler it would have been if we just trusted Him in the first place. This is not to be cruel or anything but so that we will understand that we can call on Him whenever we need to and know that He will not lead us anywhere with the intent to hurt us or make us suffer and He will be standing right beside us. He won't leave us.

Psalm, Proverbs, and Matthew basically emphasize that God punishes sin accordingly and does not tolerate wickedness or sin and that you should not follow along with sinful acts because there is no way to get around the punishment that comes along with it. God does not do these things to keep us from having a good time but to protect us from His wrath. It may seem harsh but the Lord just cannot and will not tolerate sin.

In this day and age it seems so easy to forget God's law when it seems like everyone is doing their own thing and making their own rules. But just like you and me, everyone will one day be accountable for their actions and it is better to get them in order now than to suffer the ultimate fate of not reaching Heaven's gates. This isn't meant to scare anyone but to make you aware that the consequences of our earthly actions are real and we must be accountable and aware of the things we do and ask ourselves if they would be pleasing to God.

Now, no one is going to live a perfect life, it's impossible because we were born into sin. We will make mistakes and mess up from time to time, but that is why Jesus died for us in the first place, to erase all of our sins. Our debts are paid because of Him. However, this does not mean that we can continue to act just any kind of way without expecting consequences. God is a forgiving and loving God and will forgive us for what we have done if we truly mean it because despite all of our sins He wants us to be able to make Heaven our home.

Prayer

O Father, how serious and solemn is all this, but yet how true. Sin must ultimately be punished. I am grateful that in Christ my debt has been paid, and availing myself of Your offer I am eternally free. Blessed be your name forever. Amen.

Further Study

Zephaniah 3:1-5, Psalm 103:6, John 5:30, Romans 2:2

What does God do morning by morning?

What is God's judgment based on?

Have a great day everyone and be blessed :)

(Both the prayer and further study have come from the Everyday with Jesus Bible: A One-Year Reading Bible by Holman Bible Publishers with Devotions by Selwyn Hughes)