But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.    Matthew 6:33 NKJV

In this Scripture passage God is trying to explain to us that He is all we need. In the 23rd Psalm, David said the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

God wants us to focus on Him. He doesn’t want us to be distracted by the things of this world. This world is not our home, it’s just a temporary residence until we get to our forever home in heaven. In our Monday night Bible study, we have been studying the book of Exodus . In chapter 5, Moses first confronts Pharaoh. In chapter 5, verse 2, Pharaoh says to Moses, ‘Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go?”

Therein lies the problem. Many of us don’t understand who God is and we don’t understand His power. In the following chapters of Exodus God sent horrible plagues on Egypt to show Pharaoh who He was and help Pharaoh to understand His power. Neither Pharaoh nor the false gods of the Egyptians had any power to stop these plagues. They suffered greatly, but pride caused Pharaoh to continue to disobey God.

Pharaoh even tried bargaining with God. Sound familiar? Have you ever tried bargaining with God. Well, I’ll give up this sin, but I want to keep this other sin. It doesn’t work that way. We don’t serve a God of compromise. God is very specific in His word about what we are to do and what we are not to do.

When we fail to do what we should it causes us problems. When we do what we shouldn’t it causes us problems.

Now we know that even when we love the Lord with all our heart, our soul, and our mind we face times of trials and tribulations. So, what’s the difference if we are going to face trouble either way? Well, I’m glad you asked.

You see, if we face trouble because we are loving the Lord or while we are loving the Lord with all we have, God will protect us (Psalm 91). He will work all this trouble out for our good (Romans 8:21).

However, if we face troubles because God is trying to get our attention, we don’t have His protection. Hebrews 10:26 tells us when we sin deliberately, we no longer have a sacrifice for our sins but a terrifying expectation of a fire about to consume the enemies. And Hebrews 10:31 tells us it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

When I read about the plagues in Exodus, I am reminded of a plaque that used to hang on my boss’s wall. It said, “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” These plagues get worse and worse as Pharaoh becomes more and more defiant against God.

Many people believe the Old Testament is just a bunch of history and is irrelevant. Well, my friend I disagree. It’s very relevant. God will not tolerate our disobedience any more than he tolerated Pharaoh’s. God may make things worse and worse in our lives till He has our complete attention.

If you won’t humble yourself before God, He will humble you. And I promise you, it won’t be pretty.

Give yourself over to God before it’s too late. Bend your knee, bow your head and humble yourself before Him. You will be so glad you did.

Have a great day!