LET YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate.

They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? If we say, 'We'll go into the city' - the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die."

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!"

So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace."

2 Kings 7:3-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One of the greatest marvels installed in every man and woman that God creates is a conscience. You know what I’m talking about. That inherent, innate sense we all have when we’re doing something right or wrong.

When I was younger, this matter of conscience was portrayed in cartoons by the appearance of a little white angel and a little red devil on opposite shoulders of a person who had to make a decision whether to do good or bad.

Of course, the little white angel would try and convince the person to do good…to make the right choice. But then the little red devil would work equally hard if not harder to tempt the person into doing what was bad. We look at this as cartoonish but, in reality, it’s closer to the truth than we maybe want to admit.

Because rest assured that when we are faced with doing good or bad in life, there are two competing factors at work…the Holy Spirit and Satan. The Holy Spirit…the Mighty Counselor…will always try and steer us the right way…to what is good. Conversely, Satan is also active, ever seeking to convince us to not follow the way of the Spirit and to do wrong…to act badly even when we know it isn’t what the Lord expects.

Indeed, we are on the battlefield every day and under siege from sin and temptation. Consider these words from Paul as he wrote to the Romans:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. Romans 7:15-23

Can you relate to Paul?

I know I can.

So how should we respond when faced with our conscience?

Let’s look at today’s scripture.

For as Samaria has been under siege, we are introduced to “four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate”. Lepers were considered unclean and not allowed to live in the community so they were forced to be on the fringe…the entrance to the city gate in this case.

The lepers were in a bit of a dilemma for they were hungry and in need of something to eat. And so they weighed their options and didn’t see any real good solution…for every possibility led to them dying. But since there was a slight chance that the Arameans might spare them, the lepers decided to go to the camp of the Arameans vice remain at the gate or enter the city where famine had struck.

So “at dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans” and “when they reached the edge of the camp”, surprisingly “not a man was there”. Scripture tells us that it was because “the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army” which they mistook as Hittite and Egyptian forces hired by the king of Israel to attack them. And so they “fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys”, running for their lives.

This is why the lepers found the camp vacated. And so the men “entered one of the tents”, eating and drinking before they “carried away silver, gold and clothes” which they hid. Then they returned to the camp, “entered another tent”, and took more things from it which they also hid.

You could say that life was getting pretty good for the lepers. They had been cast out because of society because of their affliction…treated without dignity and made to feel unwanted. But now they had come upon riches in the vacant Aramean tents…riches that may have made them feel for once, “Who’s on top now?”

But then something happened.

For the lepers said to one another, “We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace."

And this is exactly what they did.

So what happened?

The lepers allowed their conscience to be their guide. They listened to the guidance of the Holy Spirit which obviously included a warning of punishment if they chose to disobey…and the lepers couldn’t deal with any more trouble. Life was difficult enough already.

And although the lepers were still afflicted with their leprosy, they were as clean that day as any non-afflicted person. All because they chose to follow their conscience and do the right thing.

So how about you?

How well do you deal with decisions that place you in a situation to choose right or wrong?

Do you delight in doing the Lord’s will, thus choosing a good and righteous way?

Or do you surrender to your own selfish desires, allowing sin to make you a prisoner to wrong?

Our scriptures are speaking loudly to us if we would just take the time to listen.

They are saying…do what the lepers did…and let your conscience be your guide.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com