1 Kings 9:6-8 - But if you turn aside from following me, you
or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have
set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut
off Israel from the land which I have given them; and the house which I have
consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will become a
proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins;
everyone passing by it will be astonished, and will hiss; and they will say,
'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'
Solomon had finished the temple….finished his house and
several other buildings…even a new wall had been built around Jerusalem. God had come to him once again to deliver a
reminder of the blessing he would receive if he followed God….and these words
of warning if he or his nation turned aside from following him. It makes me
think of those verses in Deuteronomy 4…5….and 6 …about how God is such a
jealous God.
God isn’t talking about the envious resentment we feel when
someone has or does something we wanted to have or do….God is talking about the
mental pain we cause him when we stop loving him…..and abandon him for another
god. It’s a physical pain…like the pain your heart feels when it has been
broken….or the pain a parent feels when they have to discipline their children.
Maybe that’s what my mom and dad meant all those times they used to tell me
that the spanking I was getting hurt them more than it hurt me.
This passage opened up a whole discussion in my mind about
God’s wrath…and all the many things he is allowing to take place in our communities
these days. I hesitate to put this thought on paper…but I have asked the
question why many times in my life…with no clear answers. Some say that God
doesn’t work this way anymore….that his mercy and love is not capable of such
harsh punishments. But if that is true
then why does he allow such destruction with tornadoes and bombings…and crazy
people who seem to have lost their minds.
The world clearly has problems these days…many simply do not
believe in God at all…and I see many others on a daily basis that claim to love
him…but their actions show me different.
I remember a conversation that Abraham had with God when he was pleading
for the lives of Sodom. He asked God if
he could find just 50 righteous people….would he spare the town….in Genesis
18. God must not have found them…for
Sodom was destroyed as Lot and his family fled.
Maybe God isn’t finding enough righteous people in our world today either.
All I can do is speak for myself…and realize that I always
have room to grow closer to God. I hope he would find me righteous enough to
warn me like he did lot…or send me a dream like he did Joseph to flee to Egypt
so Jesus could be safe…..or chase me out of a garden and protect it with
flaming swords so I wouldn’t make two bad choices in a row. I know that most
days…we don’t get the answers to why….just the strength we need to endure it and
move on with life. And God uses the pain
he helped us endure to draw us close to someone who needs a little of the
strength he gave us…as we rally to help those that were struck down form the storm
he allowed in their life.
Father….you know my heart cries out why so many times…when
my head knows you are going to hide the answers from me for one more day. So I
thank you for the reminder that you are still near…and what I should really be
doing is loving you through the pain I feel.
Help me to search for you and draw closer to your great love…that can
sustain and strengthen me. Help me to do my part to keep the promise I made
when I asked you to live in my heart. ..so when I find myself in the middle of
a great catastrophe … I can feel you near ….comforting me and giving me
courage. Father…I ask you to show yourself to the most recent victims of
Oklahoma…and send people who you have strengthened before you …. to help them
through the hard days ahead. Amen.
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