We’ve all seen the cartoon drawings of an ostrich hiding its head in the sand and we’ve thought “How foolish.”
If only we’d never been as that ostrich when it came to our attempts to hide from accountability for poor choices.
Oh well. There’s always the opportunity for improvement.
I’m reminded of how Adam tried to hide from God after the tragic decision to believe the serpent rather than to believe God.
As if God couldn’t see through the bush that He had created.
God saw through those leaves.
He saw through Adam’s finger-pointing blame of Eve.
He saw Adam’s real need — an atoning sacrifice of blood so that Adam wouldn’t have to die for his sin.
All because of divine love for the one who made a foolish choice.
We’ve made foolish choices.
All of us.
And sometimes, we’ve even tried to hide from God in the bushes of skipped church, ignored prayer, worldly partying, workaholism, perhaps even obsessive hobbying.
It never worked.
God still saw us.
We were still in sin.
We still needed an atoning sacrifice of blood so that we wouldn’t have to die for our sin.
God still loved us, despite our foolish choices.
It is this set of facts that we should have in mind when we read passages such as the one for today from The One-Year Bible:
“But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23)
Whether it’s the pledge to turn our lives over to the Lord when we’re saved or the pledge to tithe or the pledge to be faithful in church attendance and volunteerism, let’s do our best to keep our word.
It’s never good to tell God we’ll do something — or not do something — and then we break our promise.
Excuses don’t make good masks when it comes to how God sees things.
Let’s keep our promise to serve and to give and God will keep His promise to bless.
As always, I love you
Martin
