My devotions yesterday produced a verse that was both soul provoking and saddening. Saddening in the way that it is true and it shouldn't be.
"But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:" 1 Kings 14: 9. The context of this verse is God speaking through his prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam's wife. Jeroboam and his wife were trying to deceive the prophet by her disguising herself and going to the prophet to get a prophecy regarding their child who was sick. The prophet is blind, but why you'd try to deceive a prophet is beyond me, I mean hello God gives him visions and talks to him directly. Like he isn't going to know who you are. Anyway, this verse really got me thinking about how we put things before God. We may not make molten images ( I hope so anyway), but we definitely have idols that we put before God. One of the definitions of idol is any person or thing regarded with blind admiration,adoration, or devotion. I'm not saying we can't be devoted to things or admire stuff, but are we putting it before God? Are we carrying it around petting it and obsessing over it like an old lady and her little dog? (ok bad analogy, but it's funny so I'm keeping it) Sometimes I put my husband before God, it's easy to do when you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse. Sometimes I put my kids before God. Lately I've been putting all of my modeling stuff before God, which I've corrected, but I have to be careful to not take it back and put it before Him again. It's an everyday process for me right now. In my devotions I have to give it up to Him again. It'll be that way for awhile until I leave it in His hands. Oh how I long for that day. For now though, I'll continue to give it to Him everyday. And like and awesome and wonderful God He takes it from me everyday with the patience of the Heavenly Father He is. What molten images are you putting before God? What little things are you holding onto scared to lay them in His hands? Give it to Him, I promise you'll feel the burden lift off of your shoulders.
Ok last part of that verse is "...to provoke me to anger, hast cast me behind thy back" God is angry because He is a jealous God. He wants us to Himself. It is why He died on the cross, to have a personal, uninterrupted, just you and Him relationship with Him. My relationship with God isn't me, Him, and Derek or me, Him, and my children. It's me and Him. Period, that's it.
"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:" Exodus 34:14
"For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord they God am a jealous God,..." Exodus 20:5a
You get the picture, there are many more verses that confirm that He is a jealous God. But it's only because He loves you so much and He gave so much for you that He wants you all to Himself. I'm going to be looking at my life very closely to see what I'm putting before God, I want to make sure there are no invaders in my relationship with Him, nothing that is separating me from having a true and wondrous relationship with Him. I hope you'll do the same because I know that when we eradicate these things that are hampering us from completely focusing on Him we will feel Him move in us in miraculous and wondrous ways.
This song is so amazing and really sums up what I'm trying to say in this long winded post. Please listen to the whole thing, this is one of my favorite songs.
I listened to the song and I loved it, I've never heard it before. It definitely made me think of all the things I put before God and had to ask for forgiveness. Keep writing honey, I love you.
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