“‘Am I the one they are hurting?’ asks the LORD. ‘Most of all they hurt themselves, to their shame.’”
Jeremiah 7:19
Idolatry… yes, once again we are confronted with the people of Judah who committed the act of idolatry. They were making sacrificial fires and cakes to Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility (Jeremiah 7:18); and they poured out liquid offerings before this false god.
Is it any wonder why God was infuriated? God was so infuriated He had told Jeremiah, “Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you,” (Jeremiah 7:16). God was not looking the other way. He saw they were breaking His commandment not to have any other gods before Him. They were to love God with all their heart. Instead, the people of Judah had hearts filled with unfaithfulness towards God. In other words, they were being disloyal towards God.
In sinning against God, disregarding His commands, and turning away from Him, they were hurting themselves. Isaiah 59:2 says this: “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” By committing the act of idolatry, they had committed spiritual suicide. They had cut themselves off from the Wellspring of Life, the Source of Strength, their Deliverer. They turned away from the Almighty Everlasting God.
Before we judge the people of Judah harshly, we need to look at ourselves. Are we being unfaithful to God in any way that would cause Him to look away from us?
Let’s go further. The purpose of the sacrificial system God put in place was not to please Him. The purpose of the sacrifices to be made would make the people recognize their sin, cause them to repent, and to refocus them back to living for God. The purpose of the sacrificial system was to spur the people on, to encourage them to take joy in obeying God.
In this passage of Scripture, the sacrifices the people of Judah were doing before God dishonored Him because they were doing the sacrifices out of duty and obligation, not out of love or wholehearted devotion to Him. They were making sacrifices to the goddess Ishtar while they were also making sacrifices to God. They had turned away from God, disregarding His command not to have any other gods before Him.
Remember this: God DOES NOT conform to our will and our ways. We MUST conform to what God wills and desires. God is to have first place in our lives. He will not share His glory with another, and He is not sharing first place in our lives with anything or anyone else. Either God is God in our life, or He is not.
Let’s choose Life by choosing God because He is life. He is the Giver of Life. He is the One who sustains us, and He alone is worthy of all the glory and praise. Think of all that He has done for You. Let’s bring honor to His name by walking in obedience after Him. Let’s walk uprightly with undivided hearts, giving Him first place in our lives. Whatever it is that we need to remove to progress in our relationship with Him, then let’s remove it and press on. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need,” Matthew 6:33.
Heavenly Father, You are still on the throne, and You are still sovereign. You are Lord, and You are Master. You are faithful and true. You know all things from beginning to the end. Nothing is hidden from Your sight, and everything is exposed before You. You, O God, truly know the depths of our heart. Father, when we walk away from You, we are only hurting ourselves. We are sorry for our wrongful ways and sinful attitudes before You. Lord, forgive us for our sins, and we ask that You cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Let us not be as the people of Judah but let us remember that You alone must have first place in our lives and that You will not share Your glory with another. Remind us that we are to conform to Your will and to Your ways. Give us the wisdom and the insight to understand that sin separates us from You. Help us to understand that You do not tolerate sin, that we are to be holy as You are holy. Give us the strength to remain steadfast in You. Time is short, Father God, and the return of Christ is nearer than it ever has been. There is no time to straddle the fence, and You do not play games. Lord, let us be living sacrifices before You that are pleasing and honorable in Your sight. Use us to bring glory to Your name. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Linda A. Knowles
“Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a present to his wife. He said, ‘I’m going into my wife’s room to sleep with her,’ but her father wouldn’t let him in. ‘I truly thought you must hate her,’ her father explained, ‘so I gave her in marriage to your best man. But look, her younger sister is even more beautiful than she is. Marry her instead.’ Samson said, ‘This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.’ Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs, and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails. Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves. ‘Who did this?’ the Philistines demanded. ‘Samson,’ was the reply, ‘because his father-in-law from Timnah gave Samson’s wife to be married to his best man.’ So the Philistines went and got the woman and her father and burned them to death. ‘Because you did this,’ Samson vowed, ‘I won’t rest until I take my revenge on you!’ So he attacked the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. Then he went to live in a cave in the rock of Etam. The Philistines retaliated by setting up camp in Judah and spreading out near the town of Lehi. The men of Judah asked the Philistines, ‘Why are you attacking us?’ The Philistines replied, ‘We’ve come to capture Samson. We’ve come to pay him back for what he did to us.'” –Judges 15:1-11(NLT)
Don’t be like Samson. He began with one act of revenge and one act of revenge after another occurred. Letting any emotion control you is dangerous, but in Ephesians 4:26-27(NLT), the Scripture states, “And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’ Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”
Anger, when left unchecked, will play on every other emotion.
One act of revenge done out of anger, spite, and jealousy can cause a ripple effect. If you get revenge, then the person may retaliate against you due to that person being angry. Then you will want to seek revenge again if you don’t deal with issues of anger, spite, and jealousy that had the best of you when you initiated the first act of revenge. Be careful not to sin in your anger.
First, those who have a short fuse make for bad company. Second, jealousy’s apparel doesn’t look good on anyone, and thirdly, why are you acting like you are a child on the playground misbehaving and hurting others out of spite?
Stop the nonsense, and grow up.
Linda A. Knowles
I found myself in Acts 5:1-11, a passage I couldn’t get away from. Lately, I’ve thought a lot about what it truly means to grieve the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is so holy that He shrinks back at the slightest sin. If we viewed sin as the Holy Spirit does, we would be more cautious in behavior and in words. For me, when I look at the story of Ananias and Sapphira, I can see how serious sin is in the eyes of God and His Holy Spirit.
Amongst the believers, no one lacked anything because the believers were helping those within the body of Christ also called “The Church,” taking care of each other when they saw those in need. In Acts 4:34-35, we can see it states, “There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need,” using Barnabas as an example (Acts 4:36-37) who had owned and brought the money to the apostles. In Acts 4:32, it states, “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.” In this passage, we see the believers helping those in need in any way they were able. As God had blessed them, they were blessing others. It was up to each believer as to what they could do with the money from the land they had sold. They could have done what they wanted with their property as well as their money, and it was up to each believer to decide how much each would give or what each would do with their property.
Now that brings us to Ananias and Sapphira… Just like everyone else, they had a choice as to what to do with their cash and possessions. “But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest,” (Acts 5:1-2 NLT).
Sapphira and Ananias, instead of being upfront and truthful, conspired together to deceive the Church. The sin was not in them wanting to sell their property. The sin was not in them keeping back part of the money. The sin was the deceptive masquerade they put on before the Apostles and the Church. Acts 5:3-4 states, “Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!’”
The Holy Spirit exposed Ananias’ deception. We can see this by the words given to Peter to speak, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit… How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!’” If we don’t have God’s approval, then we have absolutely nothing. The Spirit of the Living God does not approve of deception in any way, shape, fashion, or form. We need to always remember that “Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed.”
The consequence of Ananias lying to the Holy Spirit can be found in Acts 5:5-6, and it states this, “As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.” That’s how serious a matter it is when one deliberately chooses to set out to deceive his/her brethren, when one deliberately chooses to conspire with another or others to do evil, when one chooses to sin rather than doing what is right before the eyes of God.
Sin is transgression of God’s law. ALL sin is transgression of God’s law, and He is not impressed with posturing or masquerades or pretense. In the presence of the Living God, everything is laid bare, fully exposed. He commands truth and holiness. God doesn’t have suggestions, but He does have commands. We are to follow those commands as outlined in His Written Word. Love for God is keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.
What happened to Sapphira? I wonder if her response to Peter would have been different had she known what happened to her husband, but Scripture states Sapphira didn’t know what happened. Acts 5:7-11 says, “About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, ‘Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘that was the price.’ And Peter said, ‘How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.’ Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.”
I know these are rather sobering thoughts, but as I have been thinking about this for the last several days, I find myself humbled and in awe of God who has given us His Word so that we might know all we need to live a life pleasing to Him. Our God is very merciful and compassionate, but our God is the God of Justice, the God who demands honesty in the innermost parts. It’s not enough for those attending places of worship to have ambitions of being a disciple of Christ. Either you are a disciple of Christ or you’re not. You cannot have it both ways. God is not impressed with pretense, hypocrisy, or showmanship. If you are putting on a show simply to keep up appearances or just to gain the approval of man, God will eventually strip off your mask. You cannot expect to be blessed when you are living a life of disobedience to God.
REFLECTION: “Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness,” (Matthew 23:28). Who are you when no one is watching? Are you living two lives –one life in your place of worship and another life outside of your place of worship? Being Christ-like is a lifestyle, not an act of showmanship. When you go before God, do a deep self-examination, letting God show you if there is anything within you that offends Him. Let Him show you if there is anything you need to repent of. “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it,” (Isaiah 30:15). Repent of your wicked ways, turning to God, and have Him cleanse you from your sins. It is only in surrendering to God that you will find rest. God is your Savior, and when you submit to obeying Him and walking in His ways, that is where you will find liberty. When you confess and repent of your sins, you have this assurance found in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, You are the God of Truth, and You are the God of Justice. Lord, I’m sorry for being pretentious, for caring more about gaining approval of men instead of seeking Your approval alone. I’m sorry for grieving Your Holy Spirit. Father, I have sinned against You and You alone. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Have Your way in my life, and come reign in me. I’m truly sorry for sinning against You. Please don’t cast me away from Your Presence because I am nothing without You. Wash me clean with the Hyssop of Heaven and I shall be made clean. Please forgive me, and have Your way in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Linda A. Knowles
“But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.” -Isaiah 63:10
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
Stained Glass Confessions 