In the Old Testament, there were several times when God’s chosen people would turn their backs on Him and forget His goodness. Some of us today look at this and wonder to ourselves how could it be. How could those living in Old Testament times witness all the extraordinary things He did for them and still turn their backs on Him? The answer is that they forgot the goodness of God and began to toy around with a spirit of arrogance. The spirit of arrogance is one of the worse to have. It is a notch higher than being proud, and it means to have an exaggerated or elevated sense of one’s own importance or abilities. Proverbs 16:5 tells us that this kind of pride is an abomination to the Lord. It’s something He strongly hates, and just like God’s people in the Old Testament, it is the biggest reason why so many of us are not moving forward in the way we expect.
Hardly any of us will admit this to ourselves. The fact is that we are entering a time where none of us have the luxury any more of not facing the truth. It’s time out for excuses, we’re past this now. We’ve got to come clean before the Father, because not doing so will send us down a very dangerous path. In the Old Testament, there are many warnings from Heavenly Father to His people regarding their propensity to drift away from Him and slip back into their old habit patterns. Some of them just hated hearing words of reproach from God. They didn’t want to be corrected because they didn’t want to have to turn from their wicked ways.
Jeremiah, the prophet, said in Jeremiah 6:10(NLT), “To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the LORD. They don’t want to listen at all.” The people were so taken in a spirit of arrogance that they placed themselves above reproach. Nothing from God would land on their ears to the point of penetrating their hearts. They would not repent.
This warning from Jeremiah was delivered at a time when God’s people were warm and cozy. Everything was going relatively good for them. There were several other occasions in the Old Testament where nations warred against the Children of Israel. Some were successful and some were not, but during the period surrounding this record in Jeremiah 6 the city and country were reasonably secure, and there didn’t appear to be any present dangers. Isn’t this what we do? When things are going well for us, we don’t think about the condition of our souls and hearts; and the adversary will use our inattentiveness to invade our territories in the most despicable and destructive ways.
In Jeremiah 6:6(NLT) the Lord said, “Cut down the trees for battering rams. Build siege ramps against the walls of Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, for she is wicked through and through.” Jerusalem allowed itself to be under the oppressive cloud of the spirit of arrogance; they indulged it wholeheartedly. You and I can reason that there were so many people out of alignment with God’s Will and Plan that the number of those that were in alignment with it was very small. Looking at this, you might think, “Wait a minute, I thought that God was not in the punishment business.” God does not punish, but He certainly allows consequences that are a direct result of the actions we commit.
God is fair, and He is beyond justice. He’s righteous, perfect, brilliant, and He is unfathomably faithful to His Word. You and I don’t get a pass when it comes to following God’s Word. It’s His Way, and it is the absolute best way. To think that we can continue to climb higher while having attitudes, behaviors, and deeds that are opposite to God’s nature is the epitome of arrogance. When arrogance and neglect spearhead our endeavors in life, the judgement is clear, because Proverbs 16:18 tells us that destruction travels with this kind of pride.
Disobedience will forever cause our lives to remain in a vicious negative cycle. God doesn’t want this for anyone. Through Jesus Christ, He’s made it possible for us to enjoy a more than abundant life. We can have this when our hearts and minds are focused on Him and His goodness. Our commitment to God’s Word keeps us sharp and spiritually strong, and we then remain in the covering of God’s blessings, but this is a choice. We can keep the consequences of sin and death away from our lives by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and living through his example of Christ.
God set up the universe to respond wonderfully to His Will, and when we follow His Will, Romans 8:28 tells us that He will cause all things to work together for our good. So, we must never take our eyes off God and be obedient to His Word. Hebrews 2:1-2(NLT) tells us, “2 So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. 2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.” Hebrews 2:1-2 is God’s stiff warning that we can slip away from the power of His Word, and therefore fall off the path of His blessings if we take our eyes off Him. We must never do this and always remain committed to live through Jesus Christ. We can’t just seek God when our lives start to unravel, or when tragedy knocks at our doors. We must always be attentive to the things of God. He is our everything, and He will keep us continually in His blessings of care and protection, but we have a part to play in this as well. We must be obedient and honor God’s Word, and we must never allow our eyes to wander from Him. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Never Take Your Eyes Off God” written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2016. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.