When you start to think about it, we are surrounded by safety devices. Our homes have smoke detectors to alert us when there’s a fire. We’ve made it the law that you have to wear a seat belt in the car. There are railroad crossing arms nearly everywhere a road crosses the tracks. Just about every place and activity have some form of safety around it, yet people still choose to ignore or not use the safety devices. We don’t replace batteries in smoke detectors. We rationalize not wearing a seat belt on short trips. We go around the railroad crossing arms when we’re in a hurry. In every one of those scenarios people have paid the price of ignoring the safety device. Some have sued when they’re the ones who ignored it. The safety devices are there to help us, yet we feel inconvenienced by them at times.
In Judges 2, God told the Israelites not to make a covenant with the other nations in the Promised Land. When Joshua died, it says, “Another generation arose after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord and worshiped and served the Baals, and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt” (AMP). God had given them the Law, leaders and even met with them in the form of an angel to warn them not to do things opposite of His ways. They went through several generations and leaders who kept trying to bring the people back to God’s ways so they would receive the blessings of following Him. However, time after time, they ignored Him and suffered the consequences.
Proverbs 13:13 says, “Whoever despises the word and counsel [of God] brings destruction upon himself, But he who [reverently] fears and respects the commandment [of God] will be rewarded.” God’s Word is a lamp, a warning system and a guard rail for our lives. When we ignore it, we face the consequences. When we follow it, we are rewarded with blessings. It’s not always convenient and we don’t always understand the guardrails He’s given us, but we must live by them if we want to get the most out of this life He’s given us. We can’t pick and choose what parts of His Word we obey and what parts we ignore. “All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage].” His Word is for our good and our safety. We can’t afford to ignore it like other safety devices. This one has eternal consequences.
Photo by Google Gemini
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 