Psalm 4:2
How long, O you sons of men, Will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness And seek falsehood? Selah
–NKJ
People can say things where the words bite like a sharp weapon. People do things to each other, claiming to be for a greater good, but that good tends to only affect the one doing the bad deed. People can twist things around and try to justify their nasty behavior. Then when the terrible things are said, and bad things are done, the victims of that treatment is inclined to return the nasty behavior and attitudes. It quickly grows into an escalating feud that loses understanding as to what started it all, and any notion of how to end it.
It doesn’t make God happy to see people like that. It takes the attention away from the relationship we should have with him. It also cultivates all the negative feelings that he never intended for us to live under, and drives wedges between us humans as well.
Have you ever been in a tough spot and asked that question, “How long?” Will this ever end? Don’t feel lonely in that feeling. Even God asks that of us?
We go about in a stubborn, sinful nature in a path of a downward spiral, and God just looks at our self destruction and has to ask, “How long will these people keep doing this?” The answer is right in front of us. The knowledge is there. We keep walking, no, running away to seek our own way. Living according to our own idea of truth. God just stands there and asks, “how long will it take these people to change their ways?”
God wants us to share in his glory. What is his glory? It is a shield that surrounds and protects us. It’s a refuge, a place that will dismay our enemies, and cause them to be defeated, empty handed. Yet, so often we exchange that glory for one that we foolishly believe is better. Now, how does that make us any better than those who are enemies? It doesn’t.
We all have sinned, and still do. There is a promise though, that if we turn to God, he is always there. All it takes is to stop and turn to face towards him and run towards him. Not away from him. He is always ready to take us back into his glory and good graces. He loves us and wants that from us.
Only those who refuse to change, and cling to the vane things, the short sighted rewards that this life might pretend to offer, those lies that our natural heart tells us are the real reward, those will be the ones who are judged and found outside God’s kingdom. Those are the people who forfeit any mercy that God might show.
If God hates anything, it is those who are full of lies, deceit, and an overwhelming thirst to only go in a direction that is entirely away from him. Refusing to believe, or make an attempt to even know his truth. The real truth.
Are you running from God? Are your goals in life ones that are honorable to him? You can do anything you like while here on earth, but if the glory you find isn’t a thing that points directly to God, it’s time to stop the momentum of the mad, snowballing affect, that out of control motion in your life, and seek for where God is. You’ll be surprised to find he is never far away.
It’s time to put away the natural desires of your heart and if you have the need to go mad, and run through life with a wooden nickel in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, go mad for God. It will be a lot more fun and rewarding.