Daily Devotional for Wednesday, July 8

Willful Ignorance, Idolatry, Drunkenness

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children,” Hosea 4:6.
We live in a time of great technological advances. You have more information available to you, in the palm of your hand, than at any other time in history. You might think that we have become so much more educated and wiser to the effects that sin has on our bodies and the destruction it brings about in our lives. You might think that, but you would be wrong. Our willful ignorance to the truth of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse may be at an all-time high. People have made desires, fantasies and escapism their god instead of living in reality and the truth.
God has always provided us the truth and knowledge that we need to live a successful God-fearing life. The people of Israel had rejected the knowledge that God had provided them and that is why they would be destroyed (Hosea 4:6). The more you reject the Lord, the further you will get away from him; “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). But how did they get to that point; “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14, 15). In rejecting God, Israel was bringing about their own destruction and the Lord’s punishment.

REFLECTION
What will you do with the information that is available to you? Will you try to rationalize your own wants, desires and recklessness or will you recognize that the Lord has the words of eternal life?

Tim Chambers