July 30
2 Chron 26:1-28:27 | PS 23:1-6 | Prov 20:11 | Rom 13:1-14
We have become infatuated with people. Social media has only increased this. Whether political leaders, actors, musicians, sports stars, etc. the eyes of many are fixated upon these individuals. Waking up early in the morning many quickly get their fix by following them. Some of these individuals might be morally upright, others might be morally corrupt. Either way, if our eyes are on them, they can't be fully on the Lord. One of my favorite books in the Bible is Isaiah. We read in Isaiah 6:1, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple." This amazing prophet of God could not really get his eyes on God, until they were removed from King Uzziah. It was only then that he rightly saw himself, as we read in 6:5, "So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”"
We read of Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:4-5, "And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper." And Uzziah did indeed prosper for much of his reign. But we read in 26:15-16, "...So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong. But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense." Just as Isaiah could not see God as long as they were on Uzziah, Uzziah could no longer see God once they became fixed upon himself. We read Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Who or what are your eyes focused on? Whether morally upright or not, they are misplaced if they are not fixed on the Lord. We read in Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Either the Lord is our Shepherd, or we are allowing some other entity to be our shepherd. But make no mistake we are all following someone or something. If you can't think of someone, then most likely you are following yourself. God's timetable is moving forward, and it seems that is now doing so rapidly. With this in mind, may we soberly take to heart Paul's words in Romans 13:11-14, "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: