Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please once again take the time to take in a video of the group 4Him singing Back To The Basics, proclaiming the need for all of God’s people to get back to obedience in God’s basics.
Highlight Passage Judges 2: 19 [NKJV] …
19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.
… Unfaithfulness will always lead to God’s disfavor
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Highlight Context - Judges 2: 11-22 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Disobedience, selfishness, and stubbornness leads to God’s judgment and wrath
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Reference Passage #1 - Isaiah 53: 6 [NKJV] …
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
… We are a selfish people; but God’s mercy abounds in Christ.
Reference Passage #2 - Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] …
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will keep your paths straight.
… Oh, how much pain we’d experience if we could just abide in this truth.
Reference Passage #3 - Lamentations 3: 22-23 [NKJV] …
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.
… We don’t deserve God’s mercy; but it is there for us nonetheless.
Reference Passage #4 - 1st John 1: 9 [NKJV] …
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
… Yes, … it’s getting back to God’s basics when we confess our sins and receive His grace to cleanse us.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Cindy Hess Kasper, related a personal story to illustrate her teaching lesson. Kasper writes: As I learned to write my letters, my first-grade teacher insisted that I hold my pencil in a specific way. As she watched me, I held it the way she wanted me to. But when she turned away, I obstinately reverted the pencil to the way I found more comfortable. … I thought I was the secret winner in that battle of the wills, and I still hold my pencil in my own peculiar way. Decades later, however, I realize that my wise teacher knew that my stubborn habit would grow into a bad writing practice that would result in my hand tiring more quickly.
When I was a younger kid, I was one of those compliant types who did what the teacher said; so, I still hold my pencil the way she taught me [see attached photo]. However, when I was 12 my compliance began to break down as I was introduced to something I knew was wrong, … pornography. After being exposed to these tempting, lustful images, even though I knew it was wrong, I still pursued it quietly, relentlessly, and selfishly, … in disobedience to what I knew was right.
We humans are that way, … aren’t we? Our sin nature often leads us to make unGodly choices, … even when we know those choices are disobedient to God’s will and His ways. That’s what happened over and over and over again in the book of Judges as God’s word described the disobedience of His chosen people, causing the Lord to send Judges to help the people find their way back to the paths of righteousness [see the highlight passage from Judges, Chapter 2 linked/copied above].
God’s word, in the passages above, is pretty clear that we humans are a rebellious, recalcitrant lot, … aren’t we? When we see a sign boldly declaring, “Don’t walk on the grass!!” … what is generally the first impulse of many, if not most, of us? Watch what a six year old boy, who can read, will do most of the time when he sees that sign. You bet, … he’ll walk on the grass; won’t he?
It’s only when we, as God’s children, can learn - and then choose - to do life God’s way, in His word, will we be able to avoid what God’s people experienced over and over in the book of Judges; … and that is God’s wrath. And if we can’t do what the group 4Him sings above (i.e., get back to God’s basics), we, as God’s people today, … i.e., Christians … will also experience God’s wrath.
Personally, I’d rather get back to the basics … HIS basics!! … and not walk on the grass … or even try to help others hold their pencil in the right way.
My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, … Help me to choose to hold my pencil the way YOU want me to hold it. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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