Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great delight that I welcome you to another week of the month of December 2022. And with all my heart I pray that God will teach and strengthen your heart to always take Him seriously in every area of your life, so that whether you are faced with trials or not, you will always be able to find strength and wisdom for victory in Him. Amen.
Most times, when church leaders are admonishing God’s people to take Him very seriously in their lives and not be epileptic in their devotion to Him, they think they are being unnecessarily worrisome. But it is all for their good that they are being counselled in this manner. And it is only those who take this counsel seriously and act on it that will be able to find strength and wisdom for victory in God in the day of evil.
As Paul shows us in Ephesians 5, we are living in evil days. But it is not everyday that the evils of these days threaten our lives, our peace or our joy. And that is because of the goodness and mercy of God to us. He is the one who, in His goodness and mercy, has never permitted the devil to be free to mess up our lives or our world as he pleases. May His Holy name be praised forever.
However, sometimes, for various reasons, God allows the devil to confront us with some of the evils of these last days. That is when we begin to feel like we are the only ones facing challenges in life. And as Paul further says in his epistle to the Ephesians, it is only those who take God seriously and put on His armour that will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil in such evil days. Those who don’t take Him seriously, if not shown mercy, will end up being crushed by their challenges, running away from everyone in their lives, turning away from God Himself or taking their own lives. (Cf. Eph 6:11-18)
Why did King Saul end up visiting a witch and then taking his own life? It was because he would not take God seriously in the days of his prosperity and peace. All along, he had been living as though he could do without the God who put him on the throne of Israel. He even went as far as despising God’s prophets and killing His priests. But when a challenge that was bigger than what his brains and his army could handle showed up, he began to desire God’s attention. (Cf. 1Sam 13, 15, 19, 22 & 28)
Unfortunately for this man, God, at that time, no longer had anything to say to him. He had spoken to him severally before. But he would not listen. Not only that, he had the book of the Law of God with him but would not consult it. What, then, was he expecting God to say to him? Well, when he realised that God was not going to talk to him, he went to meet a witch and opened the door of his life for utter destruction.
In like manner, there are many so-called Christians today that think God is only for emergency purposes. They think they can go ahead and live their lives as they please and then come running to God for salvation in the day of trouble. It will never work. So, they also, like King Saul, may find that God has nothing else to say to them about how to come out of trouble. And unless they humble themselves and go back to acting on all that He has been saying to them, they will never be saved.
Now is that to say that God is not a merciful God? No! He is a merciful God. However, He also knows when His mercy will not change a man or keep him from ultimately destroying himself. And where that is the case, He may choose not to say anything to such a man. Look at what Isaiah says about this: “My soul yearns for you in the night in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the LORD.” (Isa 26:9-10NIV)
Did you see that? Grace and mercy don’t always make people take God seriously. But challenges and judgment are always able to let them know that He is not someone anyone can take lightly. Why, then, should you, like Saul, wait until certain challenges come for you or you are faced with God’s judgment before you agree that God must be taken seriously? Why should you push yourself to that place where God’s grace will not work for you in the day of disaster?
Well, the word of God is coming to you now and telling you to learn to take God seriously every moment of your life. People like Joseph, David and Paul the apostle were never for once defeated by their challenges. Instead, they always walked in victory over them. And that was because they were not waiting for trials or judgment to come before they would take God seriously. They always took Him seriously, trials or no trials. And if you too are like them, it does not matter when evil shows up, you will always be ready to handle it and walk in victory over it by the power and wisdom of God, instead of losing your mind.
Do have a great week.
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