When Good People Do Bad Things - Part I

So you feel like sinning? is what I had originally thought to name this post.

So much has been written on the topic of 'When Bad Things Happen to Good People'.  But have you ever contemplated  'When Good People Do Bad Things'?

You know, Church Folk. The ones who have been taught better.  You may even know someone whom this describes right now.

My thoughts on this have come about as, in recent days, I have heard from a few grieved friends who are ministering to those Christian brothers and sisters that find themselves on life's BROAD road...the easy road.

With this grievous topic at the back of my mind, the following conversation took place one cold morning on the way to school.  My daughter had asked why people get sick and die. 

I talked with her about the Garden of  Eden...where the woes of the olam hazeh (present world) all began.

'And God made His Word extremely practical that we may LIVE!'...

I told her and it rang back into my ears. 

'Sin produces death and it still does today in our lives when we choose it.'

Just as ADONAI told Moshe, 'It is not hidden from you!  It is not beyond your reach...On the contrary, the Word is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart. Therefore, you can do it!'

A lack of fidelity, faithfulness, and integrity in marriage has run rampant in the church only because it has first been preceded by infidelity, faithLESSness and moral failures towards ADONAI Himself.

Where was the wrong turn?  No faithful follower, after all, has moral failure as his supreme goal.

Suffice it to say, the goal (that prophetic vision that keeps HOPE alive and feet firm!) has been either greatly blurred or it has been completely eclipsed by the olam hazeh.

This is when 'He KNEW better!' just doesn't cut it.

Havvah (Eve) and Adam KNEW better...I know better too, but simply knowing isn't the cure all for our sin.

The Hebrew word Havvah means 'mother of all living'.

Really?

It's undeniable the overwhelming sin that lurks in our hearts.  Yet our minds are filled with KNOWLEDGE of His Word just as Havvah's and Adam's were that bleak day.

Doesn't it all boil down to this?: What will we do when we don't feel His Presence?

When we do not FEEL the PRESENCE OF EL ELYON, which of the only two choices will we choose?  When all we have to GO ON is HIS Word...will it be LIFE or will it be DEATH that we choose?  

We decide...

1.)  We can exalt our FEELINGS above God's Word (DEATH)

Or...

2.)  We can exalt GOD's WORD above our feelings. (LIFE)

Because sin is a cancer of the heart, our Ever Faithful Father parents the heart.

'Sin will lead to your death', HE lovingly admonishes us.

'Do not delude yourselves.  God will not be mocked.  A man reaps whatsoever he sows.' ~ Galatians 6:7

I feel nothing but sorrow and compassion when someone within the Body chooses to exalt their feelings (of desperation) above God's Word. Oswald Chambers once said, 'Where one man has gone, any man (or woman) can go.'

We are not above any sin...but for the GRACE of GOD!

Sin lies just outside our doors lurking in the blinding darkness. Waiting.  

Remember The Way of Cain?

BUT for the GRACE of God...

Praise ADONAI, all you nations! Worship Him, all you peoples! For His grace has overcome us, and ADONAI's truth continues forever. Halleluyah! ~ Psalm 117

How much MORE, then, ought we to pray...

Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your NAME...Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in our lives TODAY on earth AS IT IS in Heaven (perfect and complete), give us our daily Bread to sustain us, forgive us as we forgive others, lead us NOT into HARD TESTING....and oh ABBA YHWH, Deliver us from this ever present evil just waiting for our destruction!

Scripture commands us to 'SUBMIT to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you' (James 4:7). 

Did you notice that submission to God ALWAYS precedes resisting the devil?

Yeshua resisted the Adversary's temptations in the wilderness by recalling and quoting His Father's own POWER VERSES.

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. ~ Matthew 4:11

Kids!  Do not try resisting the Adversary without having first subjected yourselves unto God.

We have only two choices in the face of temptation:

1.) RESIST the devil (and he will flee) 

OR...

2.) WELCOME fear (and be trampled by it)

Have you noticed that when we do not resist the devil, we fling open the doors wide for FEAR to enter in?

Ask anyone (including yourself) involved in some sin.  They will tell you that FEAR RULES AND OVERWELMS their lives.

Fear of not being good enough...

Fear of not measuring up to other people's expectations...

Fear of being abandoned...

Fear of being caught...

Fear of losing everything...

Fear of this...

Fear of that...

BELOVED, have you not heard that 

 

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  ~ 1 John 4:18

God's Commands are our protective fences.  It not only hedges in the good, it also keeps out the bad.

Yes...even when we don't feel His surrounding Presence...when we have grown weary of doing good, HIS Truth still abides forever.  His Truth is preeminent!    

Will we subject ourselves to It? Will we acknowledge that ETERNAL PREEMINENCE by staying within Its protective Fence?

Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him." ~ John 14:21

Submission, subjection, obedience unto God will eventually bring about an intense awareness of His Magnificent Presence.

What do you suppose might have happened if Paradise remained Paradise and Adam and Havvah resisted the devil?

Somewhat in the style of Yoda, we are wise to remember our Faith as an acronym for:

Feelings Aside, I, Truth, Honor! 

Pray for our Christian marriages.  They are under enemy assault.  But HE is faithful to DELIVER as we submit and resist!  

Thank You, Yeshua, for interceding for us!

B'Shem Yeshua Adoneinu