Thursday, June 2, 2011

Storm Warning

“I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.”
Joshua 7:12

                Picture this.  It is hurricane season in the Atlantic.  You live in a nice beachfront house with a porch that leaks out onto the sandy dunes.  It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon and you are relaxing out in the sun’s warm rays.  And as you are relaxing in your fold-out beach chair and listening to the radio, an emergency broadcast screams across the radio waves.  It is to inform you that a hurricane is surely going to hit your town and the whole town needs to evacuate immediately.  Despite how frightening that situation may be, there is a situation much more frightening than that: not hearing the news of the coming storm and continuing your day like the next was going to be just as pleasant.
                Today, in the United States, a very common verse from the Bible is used to give people peace and comfort.  It is the verse “God will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).  But like the person in the story above, many people who are told that are going to live their lives as usual and wake up the next morning to find a storm is right over head.  The reason that is so is because many people, when they are told that “God will never leave them or forsake them,” are not hearing the whole truth when it comes to that verse.  The whole truth to that verse is that God will not forsake you if you do not forsake Him (2 Chronicles 15:2).  People want to live their lives thinking they can live however they want and still receive the blessings of God.  But that is not true.  As you can see from the above verse, sin separates us from God.  Achan had stolen objects from Jericho that God had commanded the Israelites to devote to Him.  When Achan stole the devoted objects, the nation of Israel was exactly where they didn’t want to be: without God.
                Even though God shows us grace and mercy when we sin, there are still consequences.  One of those consequences may be God stepping away from the situation and letting us do it on our own.  Don’t let it happen.  You have been warned of the storm.

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