February 3

Only God knows the number of people who have ignored Him until they found themselves in a self-constructed pig pen (Luke 15:11-21). Their foolish choices, their lack of discipline, their selfish lifestyles, and their immoral indulgence have all resulted in the loss of everything and everyone of any meaning in their lives. Sin always has consequences (James 1:13-16), and when people have nowhere and no one else to turn to, they often look for God. “Please help me Lord. If you’ll only get me out of this situation, I’ll give my life to you.” God often comes to that individual’s aid, so they might turn their lives over to Him in true repentance (Romans 2:4). But, as soon as the crisis is over, many return to the same old stupid and foolish decisions and habits that got them in trouble in the first place.
We can all probably see ourselves in Pharoah. It is easy for us to look at his stubbornness and judge him for not seeing the light. It’s hard for us to comprehend how he could subject himself and his people to such horrible hardships inflicted on them by the plagues. And each time Pharoah offered to let the Israelites go and worship God with their sacrifices, he would demonstrate that he simply couldn’t be trusted. No sooner was the plague stopped and Pharoah would change his mind. We may think we are fooling others and we may even think we are fooling God when we make promises to Him that we don’t keep. But, God has set natural and spiritual laws in motion. And we are only fooling ourselves when we think no one will see our evil and selfish behavior. “Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit” (Galatians 6:7& 8). God is wanting and willing to send us the relief we are seeking. God wants us to find the “seasons of refreshing” our souls are longing for (Acts 3:19). But, we must first repent of our selfish and sinful ways, admit that His ways are right by doing what He tells us to do (Romans 12:2), and live the way Jesus taught us and showed us to live (John 13:15). We can continue getting out of life what we’ve always gotten, if we continue making the same decisions we’ve always made. Or, we can find the kind of life God created us for when we humbly come to Him. Pharoah would have saved himself and his people a lot of grief if he had come to his senses a lot sooner than he did.