Isaiah 5:12“You furnish lovely music and wines at your grand parties; the harps, lyres, tambourines, and flutes are super! But you never think about the Lord or notice what He is doing.” Here we see the crux of the problem… We’re having a grand old time doin gout thing, going along our merry path, but we forget to think about God or ask what He’s doing around us. There are consequences to ignoring God… in the next verse God says the He will send Israel into exile and desolate them, letting them starve and die because they don’t know Him anymore, nor do they care to. If you look at our country, its philosophy of relativism and “do what you want” attitude, how close are we to Israel? Do I notice what God is doing? Do I think about Him throughout my day? Or do I get distracted by the noise and the business of life?
Deuteronomy 2: 16 “When all the men of fighting age had died,…” When the Israelites wandered in the desert, they wandered until all the fighting men had died. Once all the warriors were dead then God said it was time to conquer the Promised Land… What?! So, God waited until the only people left who could fight were men and boys with no fighting experience… and then decided to go and conquer a land filled with giants and kings. Wow. Talk about making sure the Israelites had to trust God. I guess they didn’t have much in the ways of strategy either since they had no experience. With me, I guess that God is waiting for me to stop fighting and admit that I don’t know anything about what’s going on. I don’t have experience here so why do I keep insisting my strategy (or whatever this blundering is called) is right? Maybe God holds me back from the Promised Land of His plan for me until I stop trying to be a warrior and let Him be in charge. When I finally let Him lead, and follow His battle plan (even if it seems crazy – like being silent while walking around a HUGE fortified city for 7 days before yelling and watching the walls fall down) maybe things will be smoother. I’ve never understood His ways of thinking. Maybe that’s why He’s the commander, not me. Now, if I can just remember to stop squirming and fighting and let Him be God.