Devote #56

Sometimes the evidence around us must be too great or we are utterly blind.  That’s why we don’t pay attention to the facts. We overlook them or ignore them, thinking that whatever the outcome is, it couldn’t happen to us.

Let me prove my point. Every year people are seriously hurt in car accidents because they refuse to wear their seatbelts – though they were not just suggested to wear them but were mandated to wear them.

Every year people are seriously hurt in car accidents, sometimes fatally, because they drove drunk, though they were told not to drink and drive.

Every year children and pets become sick and some even die because parents leave their kids in their cars on hot summer days, though they were told the ramifications to such a decision.

Every year people become sick and some die due to smoking – though they were told smoking kills.

My point is this… the evidence is all around us, but many times we ignore the evidence thinking either we know better, or we are immune to the truth.

That kind of thinking isn’t anything new. I think we’ve watched way too many cartoons and have taken on the concept that though Wiley E. Coyote never catches the Roadrunner and falls off of cliffs, gets run over by trucks, trains and tanks, or gets blown up by explosives, we’ll just come back to life and everything will be OK.

Those thoughts ran through my mind as I read 2 Kings 20-22. In chapter 20, we read of King Hezekiah. He was a good king who obeyed the Lord. And then in chapter 21, we read of his son, Manasseh and then his grandson, Amon, who were both horribly evil kings. They both undid all of the good things that Hezekiah had accomplished. We’re even told that Manasseh brought all his idol gods right into the temple and worshipped them there. He worshipped the stars. He “practiced magic and witchcraft; he asked fortunetellers for advice and sacrificed his own son.” 2 Kings 21:6 CEV

Manasseh and Amon should have been paying attention to the facts. The facts were the Northern Kingdom of Israel was already defeated and they were all taken into captivity because they were so evil and unpleasing to God. And God had spoken through the prophets telling everyone, and anyone who would listen, that He was about to destroy Jerusalem and Judah. Time was running out for the Southern Kingdom. If only these kings would have realized that business as usual was killing them.

Here’s my word of encouragement for you today: Life is fragile and bad decisions now will eventually catch up with us. By the power of the Holy Spirit in you, make a change today in whatever area you need change in. Don’t just keep living life, business as usual.

Father,
Change my heart, O God. Make it ever new. Change my heart, O God. Make it more like You. In Jesus name, Amen

Rev. Dr. MM Marxhausen