But they rebelled against the Holy Spirit. So He became their enemy and fought against them.  Isaiah 63:10 HCSB

If you are like me and you are staying at home and trying to keep yourself and your loved ones safe, then you probably have more time on your hands than ever before. Now this has been a good thing in many ways, my husband and I have gotten a lot of work done around the house. I’ve gotten a junk room cleaned out. We’ve gotten a lot of yard work done. But I have also had a lot more time to think. Now I try to use some of this time to study God’s word and pray. But I have come to wonder about several things.

I wonder if anyone has noticed that Easter Sunday, which used to always be a bright, sunny day, has been cloudy and stormy for the last few years? At least it’s been that way in the Southeast. Now I thought when this first started happening that this was happening because of God’s wrath on our nation. We have come so far from the God fearing leaders that we had when this country was first founded.

We openly discuss and tolerate things that were considered unspeakable in those days. Ephesians 5:12 speaks of those who work in darkness and tells us that it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. But we not only mention it, we tolerate it and many even support it and applaud it. Now I can’t imagine such blatant disregard for God’s word making God happy. We have become a rebellious nation.

So, now I am wondering when will our nation as a whole, get it? When will we learn? Will people come to understand before it’s too late?

Now sin and complete degradation is nothing new. It dates all the way back to Adam and Eve’s day. And while I think that it is probably worse than ever, we can look at many Bible stories that let us know that it was bad way back then. Once sin was introduced in Genesis 3, it ran rampant. In Genesis 4, Cain murdered his brother, Abel. By the 6th chapter of Genesis, corruption was so widespread that God regretted making man. We are told in Genesis 6:5-6 that “When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”

Throughout the Bible we see those that practice wickedness and corruption punished by God’s wrath. We serve a God of justice. So, how could we possibly think that He would be okay with what is going on in the world today? And if we look at what the world is experiencing right now then we can see that clearly, He is not okay with our behavior.

In John 14:15 we are told that if we love the Lord, we will keep his commandments. In Mark 9:40 Jesus told His disciples, “For whoever is not against us is for us.” We can’t love the world and love the Lord, we must choose.

Our scripture passage today tells us that if we rebel against Him that He will become our enemy and fight against us. If you look at the news today, it appears that this is happening. We are told in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that if we humble ourselves, turn from our evil ways and seek Him, that He will heal our land. But do we really get that?

My prayer today is that we all get it. I pray that we all soften our hearts not only to God, but to one another. We are told in John 13:35 that all men will know we are Christ’s disciples by our love. It’s time that we learn and understand this.

I wonder how many people are willing to do that? How many have hearts so hard that their minds are closed so that they cannot learn? We are told in Isaiah 6:9 that people will hear and will not understand and will see and not perceive. When you rebel against God long enough, He will harden your heart and give you over to your evil ways (Romans 1:24). When God hardens your heart, you won’t get it.

So I pray today that hard hearts will be softened and that we will understand the great need for humility, for prayer and for ridding ourselves of any intentional sin. God promised that when we do this, He will hear us and heal our land.

Have a great day!