Who Will Repent?

So all Israel was listed in the genealogical records in The Book of the Kings of Israel. The people of Judah were exiled to Babylon because they were unfaithful to the LORD. [1 Chronicles 9.1]

Judah was exiled because they were unfaithful to the LORD.

What does that even mean - unfaithful to the LORD?

Let's see... Un-faith-ful. It means they were not full of faith in God. They had some degree of faith in God, but they were not full of faith in God. Judah trusted in other gods - idols of the peoples they drove out of the promised land. Oh sure, they retained "some" faith in God, but, as the Bible makes us keenly aware, God is not so much for sharing His glory with anyone or anything!

Let's review:

Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. [Exodus 20.1-5]

Notice what I underlined in the passage above. God is not unclear about polytheism.

But, let's review further, shall we?

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. [Isaiah 42:8]

I will rescue you for my sake— yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols! [Isaiah 48:11]

Until modern Christianity figures out that we are careless about our faithfulness to God, we will continue to look just like the world. At some point, the repentant and the unrepentant will look different, but, until that time, so-called Christians will suffer the same fate as everyone else. Sadly, so-called Christians fear everything the world fears utilizing the same flawed systems the world uses to attempt to find relief. 

Is this striking a nerve yet? It should. It should cause us to see that too many so-called Christians today have indeed not "hallowed" the name of God but instead have submitted themselves to the devices and design of man (idols), trusting them more so than God. Granted, for many there remains the occasional 'credit' to God's help, but it is always conjoined with the necessary role played by man's device or design. 

Let me be clear: what I am saying is that God does not need the help of modern medicine to be our Healer. God does not need academia to fix our problems. Any thought in our hearts that would persuade us otherwise, is, by Biblical definition and context, IDOLATRY.

It is time that God's TRUE followers REPENT: get rid of their idols and return to God alone as their all-sufficient God. It is not true repentance without change. Idolatry is entwined in almost every facet of our lives - we have become trusting and dependent upon a myriad of man's devices and designs - man's solutions to problems that God said repentance and faith in Him would remedy. 

Look carefully at the curses for disobedience found in Deuteronomy 28.15-68. How many of these curses do we have modern solutions for that require no repentance? For sickness, we have doctors and medicine. For disasters, we have scientific explanations and insurance. We have ignored considering the "cause" of these problems and, in this unrepentant condition, have turned to our solutions and separated ourselves from faithfulness to God in the process!

In the current COVID pandemic, we are witnessing the insufficiency of man's design to effectively remedy not only the physical problem of this disease, but the social, political, and certainly, underlying spiritual problems as well. The sin of unrepentant idolatry is flashing brightly for all to see.

Who will repent?

Father, forgive me to allowing myself to be and remain entangled in idolatry. Help me to count the cost of undivided faithfulness to You. May I be found full of faith in You (leaving no room for faith in anything or anyone else).