Wednesday, August 20, 2008

When God Doesn't Behave - Part 1

1 Chronicles 13

Here we have a story that so far has a terrible ending. The Israelites were trying to do something for God and all of a sudden He ruined their party! Not only ruined it, but struck down Uzzah. Did you catch the next 2 verses? Let's read them again:

Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah... David was afraid of God that day...

So David was angry at God because of what the LORD had done and he was terrified because he knew the power of the God he was angry with. How unspiritual for David to feel that way! I just cannot believe that they put that in the Bible! Isn't that how we feel sometimes too? Yet another reason why I love the Bible! The people were real - just like you and me.

If we are honest with ourselves, we can probably all say that there has been a time when we felt like this about God. There are times we may not understand why He chose to do things or why He chose not to do them. Maybe our lives did not turn out the way we wanted them to. Maybe we feel as if God took someone or something away from us or our children. On the outside we appear to be moving on. But, on the inside the darkness and bitterness is growing.

I believe I have met people like this and we could all definitely turn out like this if we are not careful. Sometimes we will find these people deeply embedded into the church serving themselves to death. I have done this personally. By being involved in everything I hoped to fill a void that only Jesus Himself could satisfy.

Never forget that Satan hates you and wants to destroy your life. If he cannot bring you to hell, his next best option is to turn you against God in an effort to ruin your life and hurt God. We cannot allow our temporary circumstances to become our "truth" when it comes to the character of God. Someone might say, "well, you don't know what happened to me!" "I have the right to be angry!" "God took my child or my child's future". You know what? We do have the right. God stands with His arms open, but we have the right to turn away. We have the right to deny Him access to our hearts. However, what that translates to is that we have the right to be miserable all the days of our life.

So what do we do when we find ourselves angry and terrified of the Lord? We will look at what David did tomorrow, but for today will you pray Psalm 139:23-24?

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Allow God to search you today to see if there have ever been any of these feelings that you have not dealt with. If He reveals any, confess them today, ask for His forgiveness and allow the blood of Jesus to wash them away. The first step is repentance. We will see the rest of the story tomorrow. There is hope.

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