And It Shall Be!

And so it shall be:

Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench;
Instead of a sash, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty.
Your men shall fall by the sword,
And your mighty in the war.
Her gates shall lament and mourn,
And she being desolate shall sit on the ground.  Isaiah 3:24-26 NKJV

Whenever we as a people--men and women--male and female--all created by Him who created all things--refuse to obey God and do things His way, we find ourselves on the receiving end of the consequences of disobedience. And when we see these things coming to fruition, most don't acknowledge the role they play in helping us get there and instead, point fingers--blaming others--never accepting responsibility for what they do.

This has been the story of mankind--from the beginning when we are discovered in our muck--blaming others. In the garden, after succumbing to temptation and listening to the serpent who influenced doubt about God's Word ("you shall not surely die"), Adam and the woman both blamed others for their act of disobedience. Adam blamed God for giving him the woman and the woman blamed the serpent because they apparently forgot that God knows all. Even though they refused to accept responsibility for their actions, they all received the consequences of their disobedience--the man having to work the land in order to eat; the woman having children accompanied by pain, and the serpent--once able to walk upright--having to crawl on his belly.

Though there are many who refuse to understand and accept God's Word in totality--the refusal to accept does not change the reality of the consequences we shall all feel when we disobey. God's Word shall stand long after all the "politically correct" nonsense fades away, long after mankind enters a new phase of generated extinction because of "feelings" and long after lies are exposed--about everything the enemy has influenced, God's Word shall stand and it shall be as He warned us.

What we have overlooked--time after time--is that we are simply to obey God--no matter how we feel. No where in the bible will we find God telling us to function based upon our feelings. Though He wants us to be compassionate--loving and helpful to others--He does not tell us to act out of emotional turmoil. He recognizes all the feelings--the emotional capacity He placed in us, but He expects us to obey Him in all things and that includes--being self-disciplined (not submitting to our feelings).

That's the biggest problem we face and have faced throughout history--people operating in their feelings. Wars have started because of a lack of discipline and disobedience. When people don't control their emotions--they ignite negative environments and we see strife, bigotry, and hatred towards others because of "feelings" and not because anyone has actually responded to another person's feelings.

When we allow our emotions to overrule common sense--we end up with problems that run rampant causing all sorts of evil against humanity. Emotions are fickle at best and for some--their feelings change as often as they blink their eyes and every time their feelings change, they allow their tongue to wag--without control--speaking when they should be thinking and then they wonder how--they arrive at the door of destruction. If we refuse to read God's Word with understanding, then we dig a hole in which there will be no way out and then--it shall be as God said.

It's past time we woke and smelled the stench that pervades the atmosphere--the hatred, the bigotry, the lies that lead to people living by their feelings and expecting others to embrace their disobedient, emotionalized feelings. All of this comes before God as a stench so strong there will never be enough air freshener to change it. Disobedience is a horrible smell and it leaves a stain for all to see--and Tide can't clean it. And since it smells horribly and makes God cringe--all of the consequences promised to us for our disobedience--shall be.

It's time we got our act together and stopped stinking up the atmosphere and send up a sweet fragrance of obedience to God in all things and submit our feelings to His Will.