Saturday, June 20, 2015

INDICATORS OF WICKED LIVING (PART 4)



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!

Israel’s watchmen all turn to their own way

Isaiah 56:9, 10a, 11b

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

From the closing verses of Isaiah 56 into the opening verses of Isaiah 57, we find God’s word offering us twelve indicators of wicked living, indicators that we are walking down the wrong path in life, a path paved with sin and not the righteousness that God desires.

In part four of this series today, we will discover a flaw in the Old Testament Israelites that we still possess today. As in many other cases, it seems we have yet to learn from the mistakes of the past. Look again at today’s scripture passage:

Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!

Israel’s watchmen all turn to their own way. 
Isaiah 56:9, 10a, 11b

There are many ways we can go in life. The choices seem endless sometimes, often leaving us confused and unsure of the way we should go.

So what are we to do? How are we to know the right way to go, no matter our situation or circumstance?

Well, looking at our scripture passage, we can be sure that we are not supposed to rely on ourselves, that’s for sure.

And yet so many people do. They lean on their own understanding even though God’s word has warned against it:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

The leaders of Israel, and the people as well, had chosen to go their own way and do their own thing. This included choosing who and what they worshipped, the mistake that ultimately got them into the most trouble with God although the main symptom at hand was their unwillingness to submit to Him and allow Him to make their paths straight.

It was another indicator of wicked living.

So the questions for all of us today are simple:

Are we fully trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, submitting to Him fully so to ensure the paths we walk will be paved with righteousness?

or

Are we, like the people of Israel, living wickedly by turning to our own way?

If you are with the latter group, it’s time to turn away from your ways and surrender yourself to the Lord’s for Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6)

His way is the only true way for us to live.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

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