Verse of the day: Exodus
2:23 Now it happened in the
process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel
groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to
God because of the bondage.
The
king of Egypt is dead, but is replaced by another king who is just as cruel as
he was. God allowed His people to be afflicted for 400 years (Acts 7:6). If God
is a just God who protects His people, why would He allow them to suffer for so
long? The answer is given to us by God Himself in Ezekiel 20:8, “But they rebelled against Me and would not obey
Me. They did not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes,
nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, ‘I will pour out My fury
on them and fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.’”
God’s people were a stiff-necked people, whom God had to bring to a place where
their affliction would be so unbearable that they would turn back to Him and
cry out to be delivered. So it is with us, the born again believer, today. The
Lord may allow us to suffer affliction, in order to get our attention, when we
turn from Him to the idols we make for ourselves, in our lives, whether it is
money, material things, a particular relationship, or whatever else has taken
God’s place in our lives. How can we gauge whether or not something is an idol
in our lives? Well, stop and think about this for a moment. Is there something
or someone that is taking up so much of our thought life, or time, that we do
not have time for prayer, God’s Word, or service to Him? Is there something or
someone that is consuming our life in such a way that God is an afterthought?
Do we only think about God when the person we are idolizing decides they want nothing
to do with us, or when there is a danger that we could lose them? Do we only
think of God when the very money and material things we have been chasing
become an overwhelming burden for us or we realize that it can do nothing to
help our current situation? In Exodus 20:3, God made it very clear that we are
not to have any other gods before Him. The Hebrew people, in their
stubbornness, chose the gods of Egypt over the one True God. What is simply
amazing in this is that for 400 years of oppression I marvel at the fact that God’s
people continued to worship gods that obviously did not have the power to
deliver them from their suffering. How deceived a people we are, as God’s
children, when we come to the place where we think that money, material gain,
or anything else that the world has to offer can deliver us in our greatest
hour of need. Money may be able to buy us some earthly things, but cannot buy
us true love, the kind of love that God has for us, and the kind we are
supposed to have for one another. Material gain cannot keep us from dying when
God decides that today is our appointed time (Hebrews 9:27). All the riches in
the universe cannot rescue us from suffering, if God chooses to allow us to be
afflicted. There is certainly nothing we have, or can do, that will grant us,
or buy us, eternal life. So, let us ask ourselves, “Why would I have any other
god besides the one and only true God?” The sad truth is that too many of us Christians
have allowed other things to become the gods of our lives. I have seen born
again believers be more excited about going to a sporting event than they are
about getting together with other believers for corporate worship. These same
Christians will shamelessly make fools of themselves, cheering loudly for their
favorite team, but barely say amen when they hear the Word of God taught or
preached. God forbid that the preacher would preach too long and cause any one
of us to miss the beginning of the “game”, or announce that there will be an
afternoon/evening service that will run at the same time that the “game” is on!
The bottom line is that we need to stop and ask ourselves, “Is God truly the
God I am worshipping, and serving, or am I serving money, material, self, or
someone else?” In Matthew 4, Jesus, in rebuking Satan, who was trying to tempt
Him, said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him alone.” Jesus
also said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will
hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” I ask you, “Who are
you serving today?” “Will God have to allow great affliction in your life to
get you to turn back to Him, and cry out to Him for deliverance from your rebellion
and idolatry?”
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