Isaiah 47:8 and 10 - "You
are a pleasure-crazy kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure, bragging as if
you were the greatest in the world! You say, 'I'm self-sufficient and not
accountable to anyone! I will never be a widow or lose my children.'
…. "You felt secure in all your wickedness.
'No one sees me,' you said. Your 'wisdom' and 'knowledge' have caused you to
turn away from me and claim, 'I am self-sufficient and not accountable to
anyone!'
Isaiah was warning the people of Babylon that the days of
their rule over God’s people was coming to an end. They had not achieved any of the power and
knowledge they thought they had on their own…they had just been used by God to discipline
his children. They had become way too
comfortable in the pleasures of life…and grown a bit too big for their britches.
I must once again admit guilt….for Isaiah’s words made me think
of the many times that I have let pleasure…or the simple head knowledge of
something make my decisions. And I don’t have to go down alone on this
one. Satan used pleasure to guide David…in
his sin with Bathsheba…and every other person who has ever committed adultery…or
looked at pornography …or gone inside an adult book store…or just decided to be
intimate with anyone before marriage. And that only covers the pleasure of our
physical bodies.
Let’s consider the pleasures that money ….or wealth….or
credit cards…..or that new car…. or that prestigious job bring. Oh…and don’t forget how much pleasure food
can bring….we have to eat don’t we? What about the whole world of drugs and alcohol?
And you fill in the rest of what I have
left out.
We could open a whole new can of worms when we discuss the
way satan uses knowledge to trick us into sin.
Perhaps that is how he keeps the confusion in our hearts over the debate
about creation…. marriage with same sex partners….or evolution. We don’t have confidence in what is God
approved because we don’t look in our Bibles first for the answer. We let power
and pleasure build physical strength…but the spiritual side of our lives take a
back seat. W do not study to know what is going to be good for our lives on a
long term basis…we let the needs of the moment guide us into temporary
happiness. Bottom line…if the Bible don’t say it…it shouldn’t be in our lives.
Power and pleasure pass….never having any permanence in our
lives. The wealth and feelings of
security they bring in their seasons give our hearts a false sense of security...letting
satan trick us into thinking that we don’t need God to help us make our
decisions. When we let power and pleasure make all our decisions…then God has
no room to move in and teach us how to love like he taught Jesus.
One last thought.
Where would we be if Jesus had let pleasure and knowledge rule his life?
Would we even have the opportunity to come to the cross at all? Would we still be living in a time where only
the Jews could even come to God. Would
we still be bringing him blood sacrifices? And how many brothers would God have
had to send to earth after Jesus chose to satisfy only himself? Tough questions…that no one has an answer for…
because Jesus did use all of his resources to stay focused on God and complete
the task his father gave him to do. He died on a cross for our sins and made a
way for us to be with him in heaven…if we just believe in him and repent of our
sins.
Father…I thank you
for the reminder that I need to check every decision I must make with your Holy
Word. Forgive me for the times that I
have let pleasure or knowledge alone make my decisions. Help me to use the power of the Holy Spirit
to help me focus on you…so that I always seek you first. And father when my heart is confused….always
let me seek the knowledge that you left for me in the Bible. Amen.
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