Monday Reading: Proverbs 24:12
Key Verse: Proverbs 24:12
12 If you say, Behold, we did not know; does not He who searches the heart consider it? And the Keeper of your soul, does He know? And He repays to a man according to his works.
Devotion:
I wonder how many times I used the excuse “I didn’t know” when I was young! I’m sure my Dad could probably list quite a few times when I would give an excuse that would just not cut it; come to think of it my teachers could probably list a few more too! When we find ourselves at a loss for an explanation as to why we have just done something we look for any excuse to be able to bypass the blame, not so much to pass it on to someone else but just so that we would not feel the full extent of the punishment that is due to us. If truth be told we would have considered what would happen to us just before we dismissed it and thought that we would not get caught out, that being just before we actually did get caught out.
That sort of excuse will never work with God. When we have to face Him it’s not a case of we can turn round and say “I didn’t know” but rather a case of God being able to tell us everything that we did or did not do and being able to say why! We cannot hide anything from our God and we should never try to; trying to hide things from Him is like trying to say that video evidence against us has somehow been made up. God is our Creator and our Keeper. He is the one that knows what is going on in our hearts even when we try to hide that truth from ourselves – and there are times when we pretend that we do not know to ourselves... not quite sure how we can justify that but we do!
When God sees that we are willing to do His will and that we are willing to submit to His authority, then He is more willing to allow us to do His work; the work for which we will be getting rewards. If we run a business we are not going to hire the person who looks like they will always try and get out of doing the work, we will be looking for the person who is willing to do a honest day’s work. When we do hire them we will monitor them to see if they do put in an honest day’s work or whether they will try to pull the wool over our eyes. God wants honest workers to show others the truth...
Points to Ponder:
Do you work honestly?
Are your shortcomings letting God down?
