Brutal Honesty: We’re in Trouble

“If you do not diligently observe all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God,then Yahweh shall overwhelm you with your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, severe plagues and lasting illnesses, grievous and enduring.
Deuteronomy 28:58–59 (LEB)

God is referenced throughout our culture in North America likely because the people that settled here from Europe were in many cases fleeing religious persecution. At a minimum, they wanted freedom to worship in their own way. I have in mind such groups as the Puritans. I doubt they foresaw the way religion would evolve into mega-churches with prosperity preaching, or how songs such as Jelly Roll’s, “Need a Favor” would be broadcast across the airways and heard throughout the land.

The full catch phrase of Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” is “I only talk to God when I need a Favor”. This song is brutally honest and probably true for many people. It is sad to hear someone refer to the one who created the universe and everything in it with such a way of disregard, and to see the apathy towards the things of God in our society.

Another instance of taking God along to our events happens every Sunday at NASCAR races. Someone prays to God before the race for the safety of the drivers and for the general enjoyment of the fans. Some of the people that pray even try to work the message of salvation into their prayer. Very clever indeed.

Amos 5:21–24 (LEB): ²¹“I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your assemblies. ²²Yes, even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, and I will not look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals. ²³Remove from me the noise of your songs, and I do not want to hear the melody of your harps! ²⁴But let justice roll on like the water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

There are countless other instances where God is dragged into our every day lives. Is He listening though? Does God think it is a good idea to pray for safety then send 40 cars on a mile long track travelling inches from each other at speeds of 180 miles an hour? Does God want to be talked about in country songs? One recent song I heard had a line “we still go to church on Sunday and drink beer on Saturday night”. I don’t have anything against drinking beer, but the song is just using the phrase “drinking beer” contrasted with “church on Sunday” to make a point that they casually go to church and live anyway they want the rest of the week. God is woven in our culture, but rarely do we find anyone who cares what God thinks, who God is, or what they should be doing to please God. If these questions are not asked then everyone is basically talking about an imaginary sky-friend that happily is brought along as a good luck charm.

Proverbs 28:9 (LEB): ⁹He who turns his ear from listening to instruction, even his prayer is an abomination.

Turning our ear from instruction loses its meaning in English. This is not just some random set of instructions defined by a pastor, priest or religious denomination. The word being translated to “instruction” is the Hebrew word “Torah”, which are laws and instructions of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

There is no where in the instructions of God that I am aware of, where we are told to briefly leave our life of disobedience to ask for a favor from God, so we can carry on with our lives. The only “favor” we receive is the grace of conviction compelling us to return to His ways spelled out to us in scripture. This was only possible through His Son, Yeshua. Yeshua told us what to do and renewed the covenant with the Father. This means that we actually can covenant with God if we walk the path laid out by Yeshua.

Luke 22:14–20 (LEB): ¹⁴And when the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. ¹⁵And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶For I tell you that I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷And he took in hand a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. ¹⁸For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the product of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹And he took bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰And in the same way the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob’s descendants were the only people that had a covenant with the Creator God Yahweh. Even they went out of covenant with no way to return due to disobedience. God sent His Son to gather the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” and through doing so, now the whole world can be saved.

Photo by Taylor Williams on Unsplash

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