Compromise/Corruption/Collapse - Day 152 Through the Bible

Giant roses and peonies on the altar today at Mt. Celo Church - out of the garden of one of the members

Gleanings from Today's Readings

These readings today are so catastrophic for believers "looking back."  That is what I hope each person reading this today will do - "look back"...consider...what went wrong in these leader's, people's and nations' lives...consider our own leaders, our own lives, our own nation.  Are we in the same downward spiral?  Charles Stanley said one of the most succinct, salient and prescient statements I have heard in a long time - the kind that makes you groan in your spirit when you hear or read it - knowing it is God's truth, God's warning.  Dr. Stanley first distinguished between healthy and unhealthy compromise.  Then - speaking of UNhealthy compromise he said:  First comes compromise, then corruption, then collapse.  I submit we are in the corruption stage of this cycle, having long ago compromised our core Biblical beliefs and values - in every single strata of our society.  If there is not an immediate, collective and individual turn around (repentance), we will enter that third stage - the collapse of our nation and the eternal destruction of the souls of unbelievers.  How could a nation, a people so blessed have come to this point?  Let's take a look at how this played out in Biblical history with God's chosen.

Apostasy Destroys Israel and Judah - (1 Kings 13 and 14) Israel - now split into 2 nations over Solomon's great sin - is now Israel and Judah.  The chosen people, the elected nation, saved over and over by the miraculous Mighty Hand and Outstretched Arm of our Sovereign LORD, is beginning to collapse.  God has asked one main thing all along - that there be no other gods before Him. Solomon - the wisest and richest man ever so blessed by God - does just this - worships other gods.  Jeroboam is raised by God and given 10 of the tribes torn out of Solomon's rule - if only - he will have no other gods before him and obey God's commands.  He fails worse than all others before him - bringing judgment against his house and all Israel.  Then he panics.  Then he sends his wife - in disguise - to the true prophet in Judah, acknowledging that he knows where God's power is, but denying that power until a point of great need.  Deception with God never works.  His sin - as with us - finds him out.  His house, his sons, his kingdom is taken from him.  Likewise, Rehoboam (Solomon's son) who rules over Judah also "does evil in the sight of the LORD" with idolatry and allowing perverted persons in the land, mimicking the godless nations around them.  God destroys His chosen nation and people - except for a remnant.  (A very special note to those grieving the death of a loved one:  The son of Jeroboam, who God takes by physical death, is a favored child of God and is mourned by all Israel.  Death may be a grace, a mercy given by God.  Dr. Stanley quotes Isaiah 57:1 on this and comments, "Sometimes God takes the life of the righteous to spare them from evil.")

My Lessons and Applications:  Do I honor and love the Lord...study and apply His Word...seek his counsel...in times of blessing as well as times of trouble?  Remember what happened on 9-11... how the churches filled to overflowing...for a few months? This was like Jeroboam.  There was no need for God, or fellowship with believers (rather mock and ridicule them), no need for God's Word as long as life continued as usual.  But in the depths of their hearts they too seemed to know where to draw near to God in a time of panic and uncertainty.  What is drawing people away from God now in this time of relative peace and blessing?  Idolatry? As with Solomon, Jeroboam and Rehoboam?  Molded calves can be replaced by money, sports, fleshly lusts, materialism, and a host of other idols.  Are our churches ready for the next panic moment?  What will be heard from the pulpits?  How will each of us respond to those seeking answers from God's Word.  Are we "sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts, always ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience? (1 Peter 3:15)

Jesus in His Agony  / We in Ours - My Lessons and Applications- (John 12:27-50) "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour?'  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  When we - like the disciples - become weary, discouraged, downhearted because our hope, our faith, our lives have not taken the paths we chose...can we still believe...still follow Him...still trust Him...that His way, His path, His plan is the best...when all life's circumstances scream otherwise?  Do I love His blessings more than I love Him?

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself." (Acts 20:24)  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest - " What do I really count dear?  If I have not been gripped by Jesus Christ, I will count service dear, time given to God dear, my life dear unto myself...Practical work may be a competitor against abandonment to God...Never consider whether you are of use; but ever consider that you are not your own but His."