Good Morning Friends,
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of
God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not
know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in
your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth,
so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the
speech of a fool when there are many words. When you make a vow to God, do not
delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is
better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth
lead you into sin. And do not protest to the [temple] messenger, ‘My vow was a
mistake.’ Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.” (Ecclesiastes
5:1-7)
We should treat God with the kind of
reverence and awe that He deserves.
There are those who attempt to tell God what is
right and what He is to do. That’s the wrong approach to the Creator and Ruler
of all things. The right approach is to recognize our own ignorance and lack of
understanding and so to listen carefully to try to hear and understand what He
is saying. It is presumptuous to think that we can teach God anything or set
Him straight. It reflects a proper attitude when we come humbly to Him ready to
listen, ready to acknowledge that what He says is always right, and ready to
obey what He asks.
When God spoke from heaven at the
Transfiguration to confirm that Jesus was His Son, His concluding instruction
to the apostles was, “Listen to Him.” (Matthew 17:5) The Transfiguration comes
shortly after Peter’s attempt to tell Jesus that they would never allow Him to
be killed. Jesus rebuked Peter with the strongest rebuke He ever used, “Get
behind me, Satan.” God is confirming that Peter’s attitude is the opposite of
right. We aren’t to correct God and try to assert that we know what’s best for
God to do. An attitude of humility and submission is the right attitude in
approaching God. Come with confidence of His love and power, but come with humility
and a willingness to listen and obey.
God deserves our worship. He deserves our
submission. He deserves our reverence and awe.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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