Thursday 15 Aug 2013

Thursday Reading: 2 Kings 21:1-9

Key Verse: 2 Kings 21:6
6  And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

Devotion:
Manasseh was very young when he came to the throne and it seems like the power and temptations went straight to his head. Just as we try to get up to all sorts of things when we are given free reign, so too have many people throughout history. But each thing we have looked at over the past few days has had one starting point through which everything went wrong – man’s choice to do wrong, to sin.

When children are brought up in a God fearing home they generally turn out quite differently to people brought up without guidance; our choices that we make when faced with the temptations of the world are not good! Satan has got his fingers in so much of the world that we don’t realise just how much he can destroy our lives unless we do have God in control. We are weak and we give in to everything around us, but God can bring us through it all if we continue to rely on Him.

Instead of trusting God for control in our lives we try to stand up and run in our own direction. That generally leads to a fall before we get up to speed; not because we are not able to stand up but because we are too weak to avoid the pitfalls that Satan spreads out before us. What this all boils down to is that we do need God in our lives, not just as a guide but as a central part in our lives.

God does not want to be a second thought or an excuse but rather He wants to be the reason for us living. When we do not focus on His ways and His path we lose direction in our lives and we fall into temptation. Once we start slipping down the slippery slope we grab at anything that comes by and wonder then why we have so much sin in our lives. It’s normally out of desperation because we have lost control already. When we invite God to be a part of our lives and allow Him to control our direction, we find a whole new life opening up for us and one that we can and do find peace and rest within – only with God!

Points to Ponder:
What are you reaching out to?

Why not give God control?