Our Lives Are Not Our Own

Isaiah 15:1 and 9 -  This message came to me concerning Moab: In one night your cities of Ar and Kir will be destroyed.  The stream near Dibon runs red with blood, but I am still not finished with Dibon! Lions will hunt down the survivors, both those who try to run and those who remain behind.

 

Isaiah’s message from God was short and fatal.  One night they would wake to find the comfy life they had built around false Gods and idols completely destroyed.  In their great sorrow… they would flee to the high places and weep and mourn to the gods in the temples that they had built for themselves. The destruction would be so complete that their rivers would turn to blood… all the survivors of city would be chased down and eaten by lions.

 

The history of the Moabites goes back to Lot….the connection was his fault…for in his drunkenness he slept with one of his daughters. Even with this great sin …God managed to use the genes in a good way. The great king David was one fourth Moabite….and sweet Ruth came from there. But enough was enough…and God reached his limit.

 

What a powerful reminder that our lives are simply not our own. We can build a comfy home around us….furnish it with huge TVs and expensive furniture.  We can buy so many clothes that our closets will not hold them all…or amass so many other things that they begin to draw our focus off of God.  God will only tolerate this for so long…then he will unleash his great wrath and humble our rotted hearts in one night….or one moment.

 

What a powerful reminder to make sure that we give God glory for everything he has allowed in our life…everything in our possession.  To keep the focus on him so that the things he blesses us with do not become our idols. God can….and WILL…take from us every blessing we have amassed if we don’t keep our eyes on him.

 

Father…I think you for the many blessing you have given me. Forgive me for all the times I have taken anything you have allowed in my life for granted.  Help me to keep my focus on you…and listen closely to your still small voice reveal the plans you have for each thing you have given me.  Help me remember that all these things belong to you…and I am just a simple caretaker of each item till you need it to help someone else. Let me never allow satan to trick me into thinking anything ealse…so that they do not become idols in my life. Amen.