Knowing That God Is Always Right
We start to be truly wise when we decide to fear God. We know that fear is crippling, it paralyzes. No, not that one. The fear which is respect or honor, or deference; that is the fear of God that translates into wisdom.
' He who walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is devious in his ways despises him.' (Proverbs 14:2)
We have not really profited if we gained the whole world but stood in danger of losing our soul. I know that the sceptic and the thorough realist would doubt the existence of the soul and the concept of continuing life. However, why not just take a leap of faith over that.
What if you were wrong about life after life? What does it take from you if you lived constructively? As we know, it's a win-win thing. You lose nothing by being good. Someone once observed and noted that a candle does not lose anything by lighting another. Living right is a sound strategy, if you gave it a thought.
It's a shame that in some societies of the world some people, even by law, frown at and resist exhortation. They say it is hate message. The word of God, in which I believe, says that he who wins souls is wise. It is actually an act of the greatest kind of love to attempt to steer another person away from futility, destruction and death. That is what it is. Not hate.
'Where there is no guidance, a people falls; but in an abundance of counsellors there is safety.' (Proverbs 11:14)
We should all return to God, really. I feel that no one should hear the gospel twice and still be sitting on the fence. Believe it or not, there are people and places in this world who have not yet heard about the life option made available to humans through Jesus Christ. They may not accept it, but those others too deserve to be told of that option, one way or another. Someone, or some people got through to us. We too should let the remaining others know.
We cannot let children run loose and expect they'd behave well. Spare the rod, spoil the child. The rod is for discipline, and discipline is not only punishment. It is also guidance, training, persuasion, mentoring and so on. Wouldn't you rather a loved one was preached to and is changed, than be left alone in assumed liberality to eventually run foul of the law? Would the law choose to look away then? Would it call it's demand for justice an hateful act?
It seems to me that sometimes when society runs smoothly we tend to clog it up ourselves, perhaps, to keep us being relevant in that area. Wouldn't it have been better to just leave things be, move on and find something else useful to do?
So, just because we have heard the good news of salvation and scoffed at it does not mean we should not allow others to hear and make their own decision whether or not to live by God's standards. We can never be god unto ourselves. You'll find out eventually. God must be honored in our lives.
"All glory must be to the Lord,
For He alone should be praised.
No one on earth should glory in himself'
All glory should be to the Lord!"
When You Feel You Can't Forgive Yourself!
Lot, the son of Abram's late brother, Haran tagged along as Terah started out on the adventure which only Abram was to complete. It seemed the natural thing to do as, it appears, he was the only child his father had.
When Terah died in Haran and Abram was called by God to continue to Canaan, Lot still went along with him.
It was clear Canaan was a place of destiny and Abram ( later to be known as Abraham) was the one called to that destiny. However, the benefits of that call rubbed off on Lot as he hung around his uncle, Abram.
The thought for this post is derived from what is known of the later days of Lot. I would assume that he married his wife from Sodom. I would also assume that it was the wife that incited him against his uncle, Abram, so that their servants began to quarrel over grazing space for their animals. And when Abram suggested they choose locations and split, Lot possibly was put to it by his wife to choose the region towards Sodom, her land. My reason for thinking this way is that nothing good was known to have come out of Sodom.
And, so it was that Lot left the shade and protection of his uncle, Abram and went to live at Sodom. In the course of time, a group kings made war against Sodom and overwhelmed her. They took captives and carried them away - people and property. Lot and his house were among the captives.
Abram was told, and he sent a rescue brigade after the conquerors of Sodom. His band defeated the kings and recovered all they took from Sodom, Lot in particular!
Still, Lot apparently went back to dwell in Sodom as later events showed. No further interactions with his uncle was recorded
.
Then we are told about the evil of the place called Sodom, and how God had sent out angels to verify the outcry against the city. Lot happened to be at the city gate when these angels arrived Sodom. Although, he saw them as ordinary strangers, he risked himself and his family to keep the angels safe from the Sodomites who were bent on molesting them. Yet, until the angels struck their attackers with blindness, Lot did not know they were angels.
The extent he was willing to go to secure the safety of the strangers under his care revealed Lot's goodness. The angels, possibly for this reason and for Abrams sake, granted him and all his people escape from Sodom and Gomorrah just before the cities were destroyed. When he invited the would be husbands of his daughters to escape with them, they so- like -Sodom mocked him and refused his invitation to be saved. As he seemed to be at a loss as to what to take along of all he owned, the angels literally dragged him and his wife and daughters to outside the city gate with instruction to keep going and not to look back. But, when the bombardment from heaven started, Lot's wife looked back in disobedience and turned to a pillar of salt.
All that Lot came out of Sodom with were just his two daughters. No slaves, no trade items, no property. Lot's life was spared, but he was stripped.
After the destruction of Sodom, Lot left Zoar, the nearby town he ran to for cover from the hailstones from heaven. But, instead of seeking society, he went up a hill and dwelt in a cave with his daughters. He became a recluse, and although he himself was old, he seemed not to have thought of the future of his his unmarried daughters.
As time went bye, the two daughters of Lot became anxious for their posterity. They devised a plan to have children by their father lest he should die, as he was the only man in their vicinity. The two sons they had by this incest became the progenitors of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
What an abominable end to the story of the man who grew up under the annointing and favor that was upon Abram!
I often wondered why Lot did not go back to his uncle. Abram would have more than welcomed him. And that would have given his daughters chance to be seen by suitors. Is it guilt that he chose the better part of the land when he and Abram separated? Or did he feel awkward being helped or saved by his uncle all the time?
Lot had such great prospect, but wrong choices cut him off. And it seems, he never forgave himself for all that befell him as a result of his living in Sodom.
The story could have been different if only Lot had returned to Abraham. Our stories can also turn out differently if we would forgive ourselves for our wrong choices, and rebuild the bridges we burnt against our relationships. We are checks unto ourselves. When we remove ourselves to a place where people can not reach us we fall easy prey to devil's abominable manipulation and temptation.
We need to always stay where the light will be shining on us to keep away the darkness that is lurking around seeking to engulf us!
