Verse of the day: 1 Samuel 6:19, Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.
Our curiosity will almost always lead us down a path of trouble, when that curiosity causes us to investigate that which is not ours to investigate or when we tamper with that which God strictly prohibits. Many sorrows have come from ventures that started out with the infamous statement, “I was just curious.” Oftentimes, our own pride in wanting to know something we think no one else knows or being in a position to give others information we claim to have exclusive knowledge about puts us in a position cause more pain and heartache to those around us than is necessary. It often leads us down a path of deception and foolish, heretical, and false teaching. Colossians 2:18-19 warns, “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.” The men of Beth Shemesh had no business looking into the Ark of God. Their curiosity resulted in an unnecessary tragedy. The fact of the matter is that there are things that God does not reveal to us in His Word. There are things that God does, that He chooses not to give explanation for. If He so chooses to do that, who are we to question Him or criticize His ways? Deuteronomy 29:29 clearly tell us, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Rather than chasing new revelations and falling victim to following false teachers who claim to be prophets of God with new revelations from God, we should be investing more time and brain power studying God’s complete revelation to us…His written Word. Outside of our Bibles, we do not need revelations that come from greedy men whose only desire is to exalt themselves and gain personal riches by preaching that they have some secret revelation from God that no one else has heard. Jude had much to say about these apostates. He described them this way in verses 12-13, “These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” In other words, they look good and sound good, but their messages and “revelations” are empty and useless. In verse 16 Jude also said, “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.” The bottom line is that we need to make it our business to know God’s Word and avoid dabbling in things that God has chosen to keep to Himself. When God chooses to do something we do not understand, even if it involves a tragic situation (from a human perspective), we must trust, by faith, that God knows exactly what He is doing when He allows what He allows without explanation. The only things we need as God’s children are found in Isaiah 55:8-9, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways’ says the LORD. 9 ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’”, and in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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