Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice. Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against His people.
Isaiah 5:20-25 HCSB
God’s word is very clear on what is right and what is wrong. But when we are lost, we will pull verses out of context and attempt to make them fit our lives instead of making our lives fit them. I’ve been there and done that. I was actually able to convince myself that God must want me to sin because He was working things out for me to do so. Yes, I am ashamed to admit that, but I thought you needed to know. What I am trying to tell you is that if you are not in a close, devoted relationship with the Lord, then the devil can easily deceive you. He looks for your weakest spot and then he zeroes in for the kill. John 10:10 tells us that the devil comes only to steal and kill and destroy. He wants to steal your joy, he wants to kill your spirit, and he wants to destroy your witness. If you let him deceive you into thinking what is wrong is right, then this becomes super easy for him.
So, how do you stop him from doing that? Well, I’m glad you asked. First and foremost turn to God and draw close to Him. James 4:8 tells us to draw near to God and God will draw near to us. This is a good starting point. We draw near to God through prayer, which is where we talk to God, and Bible reading, which is where God talks to us. When we do this, our eyes are opened and we realize that we are not as smart as we thought we were. We realize our need for God in our lives. We see that our joy comes through Christ and Christ alone, where all our hope is found.
When I write this blog each morning, what I am really trying to do is to help you benefit from the stupid mistakes that I have made. I want you to learn from where I messed up. Now, I know this doesn’t always work because often times we are determined to make our own stupid mistakes. But years ago, I let the devil deceive me. He deceived me into thinking that God wanted me to be happy and my sin would make me happy. He deceived me into thinking that I could get away with certain sins and God would just overlook them because my happiness was all God wanted. Boy, was I an idiot to fall for that! My sin only bought me temporary happiness. Even the temporary happiness was filled with times of anger and sorrow. You see, our sin doesn’t bring us joy. It just takes us farther than we wanted to go, keeps us longer than we wanted to stay and costs us more than we ever wanted to pay. The problem is that sin is like quicksand. You step in it sometimes because you are deceived into thinking it is good solid ground and before you know it, it has pulled you in and you can’t get out. That’s exactly how my sin was. The devil deceived me into thinking it was okay. But when I was miserable in my sin and turned to God, He began dealing with me. He let me know that it was not okay and He would not look the other way. He let me know that true happiness and joy and contentment can only be found in Him.
Often times, I am speaking with my dear friend and she will simply say, “Isaiah 5:20” when we are talking about how crazy things are in this present world. Many will be deceived into thinking that evil is good and wrong is right and bitter is sweet, but don’t allow yourself to be one of them.
The Bible clearly tells us that the wicked will be destroyed and the evil will perish. Our scripture passage today tells us that their roots will rot and they will blow away like dust. Take a careful look around my friend. On the surface it seems as though evil people are happy, but look a little closer. They are miserable and they are enticing others to join them in their misery. Don’t fall prey to that. Turn to God. James 4:7 tells us to submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. When you do this, you can clearly see things for the way they really are and not the way the devil wants you to see them.
Have a great day!