Today’s Reading, 1 Chronicles 1-2
Focal Scripture: 1 Chronicles 2:7 “Carmi’s son: Achar, who brought trouble on Israel when he was unfaithful by taking the things set apart for destruction.”
One of the worst things in life is to be called unfaithful. This can happen in several ways. It happens when you commit to doing something for someone and break your word. It also happens when you have wandering eyes, heart, and speech towards someone who is not your spouse. It even happens when you jump back and forth from your favorite team. How? Because if you were truly loyal, your team would have your support no matter how bad they perform on the field. Faithfulness depends on loyalty.
In today’s reading, we see that Achar was unfaithful to the Lord. How? He took items that were set apart for destruction. This caused Israel to be in trouble. This one man’s actions caused an entire nation to suffer. His desire to be unfaithful to the teachings and standards of the Lord had consequences for everyone, including himself.
So this begs the question, are you being unfaithful to the Lord? To explain it further, are you giving your heart to anyone else besides the Lord? If you are, your unfaithfulness will have consequences. These consequences might be severe, or they might be so small that it slowly makes you numb to the working of the Holy Spirit. Either way, you and those around you will experience pain and suffering while you are being unfaithful.
So what can be done to address this issue of unfaithfulness? Every person must examine their hearts for anything that could pull them away from God. To do this requires hard conversations as an individual. You must soul-search and find out what sins are exposed in your life. Once they are found, they have to be cauterized. Then you must be willing to have other people speak truth into your life. This will keep you accountable and deter you from being unfaithful to the Lord.
My challenge to you today is to know yourself in an intimate and powerful way. So much so that you hate your sin and run to the Lord before anything can move you off your path. Unfaithfulness often doesn’t happen in one big incident. It happens by letting your guard down and running away from the Lord. The solution is to make God the priority in your life.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Psalms 43-45, 49, 84-85, 87
