1Ch 16:37 So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required:
David had moved the Ark of the Covenant to a tent, a special tent created for the Ark of God, It now has it's own special place. David set men to attend to the Ark, daily, to sacrifice burnt offerings, to sing praises twice a day, as was required.
As every day's work required. Every day. Required.
It's amazing to me how we have taken the Grace and Mercy of God and have turned it into a thing of convenience. We say we do not have to do anything, God won't force us, after all we are not robots.
This is true He wants freely given time, money and talent. Yet we have gotten so far away from any of this, we have turned it into a "if I get around to it" thing.
God wants a daily relationship with us. God wants a wholly committed relationship with Him, of our own free will. He wants us to daily commune with Him.
I found myself the last few weeks spending more time on politics than on the Word. It had become the driving force in my life, all my spare time was spent on following the current political climate.
When that happens do we fully expect God to answer our prayers? For we are relying on a process, a person we are electing to fix the things wrong in our nation. This means we are not relying on God, we are not fully looking to Him, trusting on Him, praying to Him to fix it. We now have an idol set up before us and that idol will keep our prayers from being heard.
We wonder why we can't hear God, well perhaps because we are not listening, we are just wanting Him to fix the situation and then when it is resolved we move on and don't really heed God, for we just want what we want. We are not truly asking for His Will, His Way but what we think is best, what we think is necessary.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
In today's world we are too refined for graven images, too smart for idols, right?
Think again, anything that comes before God is an idol. Politics, family, friends, work, money all of these can replace God so very easily in our lives. We can become enamored or obsessed with something and we have no become caught up in idolatry.
The Israelites fell into idolatry on a regular basis, and they were judged by God for it. It seems that almost every other generation was caught up in false gods in the Old Testament.
When you take your eyes off Christ, when you take your faith and put it into anything other than God and His Power you have committed idolatry. When you turn to anything other than God whether it be politics, money, work, people, it is now a sin. The sin of the people, the pride of the people to get it done in ways other than faith in God.
anytime we the people of God, turn to anything other than God, or place our hope in anything other than God, it is sin.
God and God alone can save, God and God alone is the only One who can change hearts. God and God alone is worthy of our faith, our Hope, our prayers.
Praying that He will raise up the man who we think will save our nation? Not the best way to pray folks. For He and He alone can save our nation, bring hope to the hopeless, bring strength to the weak. He and He alone should have your full attention, my full attention. Praying amiss can very well cause your prayers to go unheeded.
Psa 121:1 A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psa 121:2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
David lifted up his eyes to the hill, where the ark of God was kept at that time. He was looking to the symbol, the Ark where God's presence was. He was looking to God trusting God to work it out and save him. David did not take His eyes off of God. He knew that God was the only hope he had.
We have forgotten that. The church, the church goer, the men and women of God have turned to everything but God Himself for Hope.
Our hope is in the Lord. Not just should we say it but we should live it, especially when we do not understand what's going on. Especially when we think the powers of darkness, the forces of evil are winning that is the time to renew our hearts, re-double our prayers that He, and He alone will save us, will open our eyes to His Will, His purpose, His plan.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.
We say we hope in the Lord, but the very second something does not go our way, "oh no God didn't hear us, what are we going to do?"
God knows what is going on, far better than you or I. Pray for His Will, His best not your idea of what is best. God is interested in souls being saved, hearts and minds turned to Him.
He alone knows what it will take to best achieve that. That's what you should be praying for. His best, His Ways.
Then when things start moving just remember, you asked Him for His best, not yours, His Will, not yours. His Glory Not yours.
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