I Struggle with God’s Severity in This Passage, But for the Wrong Reason

When God says My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways – we’re wise to believe it (Isa. 55:8-9).

When we don’t know God’s ways, we’re likely to go the wrong way. I’ve promised you no fluff, today might feel that way 😊.

The newsletter on yielding created many responses voicing gratitude for the help it gave them. Thank you for the feedback! But there’s another yielding we don’t like to talk about: to temptation.

We all struggle with it, but few say it. Yet the path we choose to go down when tempted can change everything. So can two minutes with God.

Someone said, sin will take you father than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost more than you want to pay. It’s true and we benefit from talking about it.

We know the steps to sin. For each of us, it’s a well-worn path! The sin that so easily besets you is easy to get to - it’s familiar ground now.

Whenever I read Joshua 7, my heart sinks. We know better but do it anyway. I can’t be the only one, right? It’s v. 21 that compels me to write this today.

If we wait until we get caught before we come clean, it’s too late.  We know this but do it anyway.

You get to make the choices, and in doing so choose the consequences – not the ones you desire – the ones God delivers (v. 22-26). His severity should cause us to struggle – not with Him, but with sin.

The consequences crash in with severity none of us could have imagined. We have only ourselves to blame.

Temptation makes suggestions in the moment, we stare until it matters, covet until it molests our thoughts and desires… long enough for it to materialize. We then take it – but really, it takes us. It’s a trap.

Lust breeds greed. It says you need what God said leave. Really, it’s a heart issue: We lack gratitude for what we have, grow discontent, and the heart gets darker as the “need” grows stronger.

It looks good until it goes bad. Your soul may be secure in Christ, but your satisfaction in life is not.

Before you go any further with some suggestion moving around in your head and heart, toward what you’re looking at, thinking about doing, saying, stepping into or feeling you’re ready to act upon – yield:

You’re at a crossroad now and have a big decision: yield to temptation or yield to God. Consider carefully what God’s word says about it.

Maybe you already know. But if you don’t, now’s a good time to find out.

There’s a road less traveled when we’re tempted – it yields to God’s will and leads to blessing. Take it. If you’ve gone down the wrong path it’s not too late to turn around because God also said this (Isa. 55:6-7)!

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