While
admiring the length of the grass, I was caught off guard by something flying past by my face
and then thought of the “murder” hornet they say they discovered in northern
Washington the first of this year. Yet I did not hear a buzz sound but none the
less the “alert” warning was on in my thinking!
Seriously,
we know those bees were seen back in like July or August of 2018 for it was on
the news locally. Not only us, but family members also the same footage we saw on T.V. in our own living room.
That hornet
made the news when it was seen in 2018 when officers were on the trail of
murder suspect in the Sedro Wooley area and they had come across an older El Camino left
abandoned that had this great nest in it. Yes, it was that home of the murder
hornet by name! Now who knows why people
keep secrets, but we saw it on the local news and how the people were taken by
surprise back then. And yes since that date there have been all sorts of
stories coming across the news media and calling it this scare thing that can
kill quickly. If so, why was it not taken care of back two years ago instead of
dealing with it now?
But back to
the scare tactics….used on those who live in the city! Seriously, how close
could one come to a thing like that going from their home to the gym and then
to Starbuck’s. There are no flowering plants at the gym nor
in Starbuck’s for I have been in both of those places. You would think that
today the news is more about that “lets scare people to death" thing by spreading the
oddest hysteria rather than giving truth. Just kill that murder hornet now!
Plague
of the Heart: I Kings 8:38-40………..”whatever prayer
and supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, which shall
know every man the plague of his own
heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: then hear in
Heaven, Your dwelling place, and pardon, and do and give to every man according
to his ways, whose heart You know; ( for You, even You only, know the hearts of
all the children of men) that they may fear You all the days that they live in
the land which You gave unto our fathers.”
Plague: every man shall know the plague of his own heart…….A turning toward God with hands raised in submission with prayer made toward the House of God. Hear prayer and supplication made by anyone....Forgive or pardon.....And give to every man according to his ways. ......those whose heart YOU KNOW!
One Altar: Jesus the ultimate sacrifice: Is Jesus seated on the throne of our hearts?
In this day and time God would answer the Nation when prayer was made. It was in times of a national calamity as: in drought, locusts or caterpillar, mildew or in pestilence (disease) supplications were presented. But God also answered in regard to the grief of an individual. Every man that knew the plague of his own heart. And plague is more than heart pain, grief or worry. Plague is a disease caused by sin.
In some people the loss of hand or foot will not cause the
person to lose their life, but in the case of the diseased heart, the whole
body is affected and can die. That plague in a heart is sin and is of a
critical issue when it leads them not toward God but away from Him!
The spiritual condition that we choose to chase the world
and forget God is any sin performed that
can and will come back to haunt a person in the form of
fear.
I take YOU to the 10 plagues of the Old Testament. Exodus 1: 8-22……….The Oppression. 8 Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, rose to power in Egypt. 9 He said to his people, “See! The Israelite people have multiplied and become more numerous than we are! 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase; otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave the land.” 11 Accordingly, they set supervisors over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh the garrison cities of Pithom and Raamses. 12 Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians began to loathe the Israelites. 13 So the Egyptians reduced the Israelites to cruel slavery, 14 making life bitter for them with hard labor, at mortar and brick and all kinds of field work—cruelly oppressed in all their labor.
Command
to the Midwives. 15 The
king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shiphrah and the
other Puah, 16 “When
you act as midwives for the Hebrew women, look on the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; but
if it is a girl, she may live.” 17 The
midwives, however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered
them, but let the boys live. 18 So the
king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this,
allowing the boys to live?” 19 The
midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women.
They are robust and give birth before the midwife arrives.” 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives; and the people
multiplied and grew very numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, God built up families for
them. 22 Pharaoh
then commanded all his people, “Throw into the Nile every boy that is born, but you may let all the girls
live.”
Moses was born at this time: He was kept in secret…for the
Pharaoh was having all Hebrew male babies murdered.……5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe
at the Nile, while her attendants walked along the bank of the Nile. Noticing
the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. 6 On opening it, she looked, and there was a
baby boy crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, “It is one of the
Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter,
“Shall I go and summon a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter answered her, “Go.” So
the young woman went and called the child’s own mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this
child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and
nursed him. 10 When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s
daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses; for she
said, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses was called from his youth and raised by his own mother
to know the God of the Hebrews, and then he grew up and was sent to free the
Hebrews from the Egyptian slavery: Exodus 5:2…2 Pharaoh said, "Who is the
LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I
will not let Israel go." NIV Looking
at the face off of Moses and Aaron with Pharaoh, we find the plagues were
presented against the those who dealt in idolatry. Egypt had many gods !
Announcement was made only in plagues, one and two, four and five,
seven and eight to Pharaoh. But three, six and nine came without warning.
In the reading of Exodus we see each plague was directed against those things that the Egyptians
worshiped.
In the plague 2 of the frogs, the marshes of the Nile have a
great amount that fill that area, but even in this, the frogs were found in the
fields, courtyards, and even in the bedrooms!
In the plague 6 of the boils,…this was aimed at the
commercial and artistic wealth of Egypt at that time. The first started at the
river and now industry was a source of trouble for the Egyptians.
The ninth plague was darkness………experiencing the
darkness………that wraps itself around you……..the commentaries write that they
thought it was one of the fiercest of sandstorms in that area ……
When I was 12……we had visited Carlsbad Caverns……….we had
been in the cavern for sometime………and had come to this great room in the cavern
and it reminded me of a royal palace …….room………very
large………They turned off all the lights…AND NO ONE WAS TO SAY A WORD!………the
darkness felt real…..like it had life of its own..
Plague 10 was the death of the firstborn……of man and
beast…….again this is related to idol worship.
THE
PLAGUES OF THE HEART…………where do we stand in this year of 2020?
Do we harden our hearts when God refers to correcting us? PHARAOH HAD A
HARDENED HEART. HE WANTED THINGS DONE HIS WAY…….. Ex 5:2…2 Pharaoh said,
"Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know
the LORD and I will not let Israel go." NIV
Pharaoh was considered to be the embodiment of the god Horus, king of the gods of the earth. The
fortified city of which he called home, was also home to a great garrison of
soldiers and charioteers. Even their horses were the Arabian, that was bred for
endurance in harsh dry climates like the Egyptian desert!
But even in all the wealth seen in this great fortress, from
the wines to special desserts, and fabulous dressing gowns, diseases were
rampant and many people died. No incantations could be done……..there was no
cure!
Was
it their idolatry……that was……a
plague of their heart? Is the heart set to rule with an iron fist for certain
agenda? When things appear like a murdering hornet, you can see what reveals
what is going on within say a state rule!
Colossians
3:5-11……NKJV…..5 Therefore put to death your members
which are on the earth: fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire, & covetousness, which is idolatry. 6
Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of
disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another,
since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new
man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
So if plagues are issues of sin in our heart………then idol
worship as Pharaoh had would be detrimental to us as well. Our leadership needs
much prayer. And we pray they see with eyes that reveals life in Jesus and not
by harboring hate for those who thing differently than them.
Exodus 20:2-10………. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. (Exodus 20:2-10 ESV)
The wrath of God comes on the idolater because God is jealous. He will have no other gods before HIM. When Paul wrote, he stated that covetousness is idolatry! So idolatry is found as an activity of the human heart. It is of no deed of the body. What we dream out of her heart is sent out of a planning off the drawing board of our own heart. The "human" hear is never satisfied, and it always wants more and more. Yet in Psalm 91:16 With long life I ( God) will satisfy him ( that is you) and show him ( you again) My ( which is God's) salvation.
So yes, the heart is not satisfied but it certainly relishes in the more and yes the extravagant of wanting and desiring to be entertained for enjoyment's sake! It is a disjointed heart that is loving a thing more than loving God our Creator! You can see that in this culture today. People will flock to being entertained in things like worshiping the dead and calling it a holiday! It is wanting to be with "the in crowd" instead of finding the straight and narrow into living by faith as God our Father intended us to live. Please make your own diagnosis and see if you might have a plague of the heart: "Is God found in our heart", "Is He desired above all else in this life of ours", and "Is He valued where we seek to give Him thanks every morning that we are alive for another day in Him?"
We should surely not treasure a job or position above Him! We should not value a girlfriend or boyfriend above Him nor should we value a trip to Hawaii over Him and His desires for us! You and I are are seeing people trying to make plagues out of the flu. We see people using scare tactics to condition you and I for the next "big" thing that runs down the Pike. We see people rioting and they call it protesting, but still it falls back to those plagues of the heart. Will we pray for eyes to be opened so that people will see that God has good for them in the land of the living and that there is much more for life to come in God after all this in this world is gone?
Like Pharaoh, he complained because he like the ways things were and He ultimately had slaves. He had his idols that he worshiped like going down to the Nile the first thing in the morning! Aaron and Moses knew where to find him. Like Pharaoh, where can we be found the first thing in the morning? Are we found giving thanks to God and are we encouraging others in the Lord? Are finding ways to minister the life of God and His love to others or just ministering to our four and no more!!!!
Are our next plans in assisting a homeless person or are our plans for the big game on pay-per-view? Do people know where to find us within our neighborhood and within this community and what will they find us doing? Will we be chasing God and His assignment or chasing the "next big thing" or hiding from murder hornets who never make it to the gym nor to Starbucks!
Where will we be found and what will have our undivided attention? Every man shall know the plague of his own heart : May we submit to God and resist the devil: Lord, I turn toward God the Father with hands raised. Lord, I submit with prayer made toward the House of God. Today, Lord I check my heart issue. I ask You God my Father to hear ……my....prayer & supplication made in this place. It will not be whining and about lock-downs but it will be about the freedom I have in You to make a difference while others are scared into their basements. I will make a difference in Jesus’ Name because Jesus knew about those scare tactics. He lived among them in His day. Today, Lord I thank YOU for pardoning me and making a way for me when there was no way. Thank You today for a heart that declares Jesus as Lord and declares the Father and His creation! For in that You Lord know those whose hearts are Yours indeed!
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