Prayer
– Lord, hear my prayer. I don’t want to be rebellious against You. Thank you
for Your instructions—clarifying and encouraging all believers to be obedient.
We are not to be shaken, alarmed, fooled, or deceived. You are the true God—You
are my God. We wait for Your return, Jesus. Come quickly.
Now,
dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don't be so easily
shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun.
Don't believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a
revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don't be fooled by what they say.
For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and
the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will
exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of
worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is
God. 2
Thessalonians 2:1-4
Meditate.
Consider your obedience to God’s commands in scripture.
Do you
consider your thoughts about God rebellious?
I was recently impressed that complaining
is rebellion. What—yes! Complaining is one of the five sins that kept Israel from
its destiny.
These things happened as a warning
to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as
some of them did. As the Scriptures say, "The people celebrated with
feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry." And we must
not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to
die in one day (see
Numbers 26:63, 65). Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them
did and then died from snakebites. And don't grumble (complain) as
some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things
happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live
at the end of the age. 1 Corinthians 10:6-11 (Underlined for emphasis.)
Are we
going to take this warning to heart? No complaining?! I’ll really have to watch
what I think and say—I don’t want to be complaining which would displease the Lord.
I know that the Lord knows my heart—so no complaining. Those complaining Israelites were never
satisfied with being set free from slavery in Egypt. They wanted to go back to
Egypt. Then they wanted food—so God provided manna and quail. When they were
thirsty and grumbled, God provided water. They were scared of the inhabitants in
the Promised Land—so God had them wander around in the desert for forty more
years. They were a rebellious people—never satisfied. Does God see us that way?
Are we content with what He has so generously provided us? Are we grateful for
His sacrifice and for the eternal inheritance and reward that He has waiting
for us?
Did the complaining and whining...
begin in the Garden of Eden?
Does it continue with us today?
The choice—disobedient rebellion or obedience
to God’s will? Each of us has to make a decision every day…probably several
times a day.
Verse
of Salvation ~ For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the
day of salvation, I helped you." Indeed, the "right time" is
now. Today is the day of salvation. 2
Corinthians 6:2
© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
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