You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD you God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.  Exodus 20:5-6 NASB

If you read my blog yesterday, you may be shaking your head and wondering if I realize that I used this same scripture passage yesterday.  And, yes, I do realize this. I am using this passage again because I wanted to take a look at one word in this scripture passage, thousands.  If you go back and read the last sentence in this passage, God is telling the Israelites that he shows loving kindness to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments. Think about that for just a minute. Only thousands, not millions, or billions?

According to Accuracy in Genesis’ website the estimated population of the world in Moses’ time was about 40 million, 3 million of those being Egyptians and about 300,000 Israelites.

In April of 2019 it was estimated that the population of the world was 7.7 billion according to the United States Census Bureau. According to data from World Bank the current population of the United States of America is 328.24 million. In our state of Louisiana, the current population is estimated to be 4.6 million according to the U. S. Census Bureau.

Now I don’t want to take this word from this scripture and use it out of context, it’s just that seeing the word thousands in comparison to millions, well it makes one stop and think, doesn’t it? We are talking about humans that love the Lord and keep His commands. If we use current world population numbers we are talking about thousands out of billions.

We are told in Matthew 7:13-14 that we are to enter through the narrow gate. Jesus said that the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction and many go through it. But, He goes on to say that the gate is narrow and the road is difficult that leads to life and few find it.

If you watch the news and get on social media, it’s scary. It looks like the majority of those around us are filled with anger, bitterness and hatred. Many believe that the answer to evil behavior is to confront it with more evil behavior. We are told in Romans 12:19 the opposite is true. We are told that we are not to avenge ourselves but to leave room for God’s wrath. We are told not to be conquered by evil, but to conquer evil with good.

If you want to go along to get along in this world, you will accept sexual immorality. You will accept anger. You will accept and perhaps even support violent or destructive behavior. The majority seem to support many things that go against God’s word. This is why I ask you to think about how you spend your time and your money? What do you support? What’s important to you? If they came and told you you could keep your Bible or your smart phone, which would you choose? Which do you crave more, God’s Holy word or your contacts, video games, and social media?

For many years in my life, I was in the majority. I had hurt, anger, and bitterness and I carried all of that around like a heavy weight around my neck. I thought that because I hurt, it gave me a right to hurt others. I cried out to God and He answered me. Praise God, He showed me that I could lift all that up to Him and He would take it from me. He showed me that if I would just focus on Him, He would provide all I need. He helped me to move from the majority into the minority. He can help you to do the same. Wouldn’t it be great if the minority of us that love the Lord and strive each and every day to keep His commands could win over the majority? What if we could show them how God removed the bitterness and hatred from our hearts and gave us peace?

What a great world we would live in if everyone could let go of anger and resentment and give it over to God and trust in Him. What a great place this would be if we would all just focus on Him and strive our best to love Him and others and obey His commands. It could happen, it could start with you and me.

Have a great day!