“Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house. Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.’”
2 Samuel 12:9-11 (NKJV)

AUGUST 26 - Originating with Adam and continuing until today, men and women reject God’s Word. Too often we want to do what we want to do, whether or not it accurately aligns with God’s Word. This factor causes multitudes of believers to suffer needlessly, and it gives the devil an open door to consume them as brutally as a lion on the plains of Africa viciously devouring his prey. Remember, Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came that we may have an abundant life.

Having been taught with authority from Heaven, not as the pious, stony-hearted scribes, those who heard the “Sermon on the Mount” realized there would be consequences for sin. Jesus clearly exhorts us by telling us that the path of His will is narrow and often difficult. Along that path, however, we find a life that is overflowing with the goodness of God, but not without great struggle.

No one desires to struggle, but God’s best doesn’t come without cost, just as Jesus’ sacrifice did not come without great cost. In order to experience the blessings of God, we must first be willing to conform our will to the will of our Father.

Father, I thank You that I am willing and obedient, and I eat the best of the land. I keep Your commandment and pursue Your will for my life.

Family Scripture Reading

Proverbs 13

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“If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 1:19-20 (NKJV)

AUGUST 5 - Two months had miserably passed since the shock of his death. Awakened by the gunshots, five quick blasts, upon opening her back door, there he was, her husband of twenty years, lying on the cold
driveway, a mess of blood and flesh emulating from what had been his head. “I want to get out but I can’t,” she had heard him whisper into the telephone a few days before his death. Somehow, some way, he got
in with the wrong crowd. Now, although the holes from the bullets that hit the garage were being filled in and repaired, the consequences of his actions would remain.

Radically condemning the Jewish “establishment” of that day, John the Baptist called Israel into a “new beginning,” a baptism of repentance from years of stubborn sin. And although scores were baptized,
cleansing their lives of wrongdoing, the consequences remained. It is essential to realize that living the life God intended begins by recognizing there are consequences for our actions, just as there were consequences for the man who got involved with the wrong crowd. Of course, we live in a society today where consequences for a lack of self-control are few and far between.

But we need to realize that even though society hands out very few consequences for wrong behavior, there are great consequences in the Kingdom of God, and those consequences don’t go away with the wind.

Father, I thank You that I am willing and obedient and I eat the best of the land.

Family Scripture Reading

Galatians 4

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“From this time on, the sword will be a constant threat to your family, because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. But you have given the enemies of the Lord great opportunity to despise and blaspheme Him, so your child will die.”
2 Samuel 12:10, 14 (NLT)

JULY 25 - As He matured into a man, Jesus undoubtedly began to realize His mission on earth—to provide forgiveness for the sin of all mankind. But God’s forgiveness through Christ does not override the consequences that come from my sin. Just because I repent for my sin does not mean I won’t experience the consequences of that sin. This was the case for David. When Nathan confronted David over his sin with Bathsheba, David repented and made this declaration, “I have sinned against God and God alone.” Although David repented, the sword did not leave David’s family and his infant son also died
(2 Samuel 12:10, 14).

Forgiveness does not mean God wipes away the consequences of our sin—it simply means He wipes away the memory of the sin we committed, like marks wiped away from a glass (Psalm 103:12). But I must face up to the consequences of my decisions and accept them, knowing they are a result of my own construction. I go to God to clear the shame, guilt, and memory that stem from my lack of obedience, but I do not expect God to remove the harvest of my wrongdoing.

God is just, and the law of sowing and reaping works both ways. Life returns to me exactly what I put into it. And that is a truth I must embrace, otherwise, I get angry at God for not removing the varied consequences of my choices.

Father, I thank You that You forgive me. I understand that human consequences exist, even in the face of divine forgiveness, and I humbly accept the harvest of my decisions.

Family Scripture Reading

Romans 14

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Posted under Consequences