KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Chapters: Deuteronomy 29-31
Message: The Foolish Heart
Hello My Friend,
The heart, think about your physical heart, you might understand that without your heart you would die because while our blood is the life of us, our heart is what keeps our life pumping. Now, if our blood gets tainted or we lose blood, not just any blood can be used to keep us alive, we must have pure blood, and it must be the right type. Now, think about the inner heart, the center of our being, it is who we are and everything we believe in and stand for, it too needs life to keep it alive. The thing about the inner heart is that it finds life in whatever we pump it with, someone who is bitter, will pump out a bitter heart, likewise someone who happy, will pump out a happy heart. The inner heart is something God watches carefully because it is the inner heart that pumps faith, and whether or not we will choose Him. While we all go up and down in our faith sometimes, some will choose Him early in life, some later, but many never will. Why? Their foolish heart. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” – Romans 1:20-21.
“when they knew God,” You see, when we are born, we are innocent, free from the elements of the world that corrupt us, it is when we get exposed to these things that our hearts being to change. While the children of Israel had their own sin natures they were also exposed to the elements that Egypt had corrupted them with, but for forty years the new generation never seen that. Now, they were about to walk on land that was just as corrupt, if not worse. Moses gathers them all together, not only the men of Israel, but all who dwelt among them, and God renews the covenant that He made with them.
“And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” – Deuteronomy 29:2-6,11-13.
“Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive,” Perceive; To know; to understand; to observe. So, if God is the one who gives us a heart to understand Him, than why does He keep that from happening? Well, that all comes down to what we believe in our true heart. God is the one who gives us knowledge of Him from birth, but it is the true heart that turns away from Him. This all comes from parents who do not believe, and it is a vicious cycle that only Christ can break. Think about it? God knew that Israel would turn their backs on Him once they got a taste of the world, they were already teetering having seen Him before their eyes. In fact, Moses warns of this, and tells them that only God could change their heart.
“And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.” – Deuteronomy 30:1-3,6,15-18.
“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart,” There is the key right there, circumcise, remove the hardness of the heart that keeps one from accepting Him. You see, while God does indeed give us the freewill to choose, He knows our heart, whether or not we will ever believe and need time to accept or whether we will never believe and are reprobates. Yes, God is in control, and He if anyone can turn a hard heart around it is Him, but He will not intervene with someone who will never believe. A great example is Satan himself, he knows who God is, his heart was hard the second he decided he wanted to be God and that will never change. Angel or human, all who turn their heart away from God will die. “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:” – II Peter 2:4-5,9.
God gave us His Word that we may know it, say it, and do it, God thought it beneficial for us to have His words so that we can live the best life here on earth. The world, through their foolish hearts have made a mockery out of His Word, they have distorted, taken from, and added to His Word so much that it is no longer His anymore. Why is it so important? It is Life. The Bible is the only book that contains the very words of The One And Only Living God in it. God knew that once Moses died that it would not be long before the people turned on Him and to the false gods. He stresses the importance of keeping the law with them at all times to prevent this.
“When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.” – Deuteronomy 31:11-13,16-18.
“and I will hide my face from them,” God will not watch His people living in sin, especially if they are worshiping false gods, He will turn His back to them and let them fall into the consequences of their actions. People will often get angry at God for the evil things that are happening all over the world. I am sure that there are many questioning God over all the maniacs killing innocent people with their guns and bombs. This is not God’s doing, this is a result of His turning His back on His people, He is hiding His face from all the evil, and will not show it until they repent. Of course, that all comes back to the heart, but let me tell you, there will come a day when there will be no believers left and when that day comes that is when Jesus will return and judgment will begin upon all those whom have turned their hearts away. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” – II Peter 3:8-10.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” – Deuteronomy 30:20.
Today’s Prayer: God, You love us too much to see us suffering, especially for things unnecessary. You do not give us rules to stop us from living a great life, but so we can live the greatest life with You in it. We often forfeit blessings or even bring about curses because our hearts get hardened. Thank You for Your mercy and grace to never leave nor forsake us, and Your ability to change those curses into blessings when we turn to You. Lord, give us Your power to remove the things and people from our lives that harden our hearts, open our hearts to perceive what You have to shoe us, help us to know Your will and follow it so we can receive those blessings You have waiting for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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