18/06/2011 - Pay heed to God’s warnings

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“Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” (II Kings 17:13)

Chapter 17 of II Kings is about Hosea’s rise to the throne of Israel – also called the Northern Kingdom – made up of the ten tribes that split when Roboam, Solomon’s son, reigned. During that period the King of Assyria took control of Israel and relocated its people to Hala and Habor – cities of the Medes. That King brought many nations to inhabit the land of the children of God and they introduced the practice of worshiping other gods.

The writer of that book was used to review the past and show us how the Israelites drifted away from the divine teachings, the mistake they committed as they abandoned the Lord to give themselves to profane worshiping and to certain secret practices that provoked the Most High to anger. We do not know exactly what kind of practices they were, but it is clear that they worshiped idols. May the Holy Spirit speak straight to your heart about such secret practices that the Israelites learned from those neighbouring peoples!

Even before Samaria was invaded by that Assyrian king after having besieged it for three years, some prophets of God delivered the message that the Israelites should repent, convert to the Lord and stop sinning. Yet, they would not listen. Just like happens today to many children of God who have already sold themselves to the enemy, the Israelites did not see why they should abandon iniquity. The Word of God compares those who sin and have no qualms about it to the way of an adulterous woman who eats and wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wickedness.” (Proverbs 30:20).

There must be tears in Heaven when a Christian – after being warned by the Holy Spirit about sin – insists on carrying on sinning. They’re left wallowing in their own filth because of that. If you are aware that some of the things you have done are wrong, stop while there is still time. If you insist on your error the Lord will forsake you and leave you alone. My brethren, we Christians are different from the worldly people because we have the Word of God that teaches us how to tell right from wrong.

Not a few people are in the claws of the devil. They continue to attend church services but they do not stop doing those practices condemned by the Lord. The Israelites feared the foreign gods, they followed the statutes of those nations and the customs of those kings of Israel, they secretly did things that were not upright and they built up altars in high places in all their towns. Captivity was the result of that.

The price the Israelite paid is a warning to us. If we carry on sinning there will come a day when the Lord will forsake us. Then the enemy, who is implacable in his eagerness to oppress and destroy, will have all of us in his hands. Therefore, we should pay heed to God’s warnings and be obedient to His Word.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares