TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2022)
“But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.
For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Hebrews 6:9-15 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 258TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
It has been a journey since the first day of this year. A journey salted by His grace, mercy, truth, love, compassion, kindness and steadfastness.
It really pays to serve the unchangeable GOD. Relationships becomes toxic and eventually destructive because people change. Hearts that were once jubilant and joyous suddenly becomes sad and hateful because people change.
Jobs that were once promising, good and great can be suddenly withdrawn or reduced to slavery because people change. Politicians that were once welcomed and treated as the solution to people’s problems can be suddenly hated, cursed and greeted with death wishes because people change.
Marriages that were once blissful, exemplary, and Heavenly can become a sour lesson to learn from, and something that no one wishes to happen to them because people change.
Things can be glorious in one moment and gory in another because people change. Hopes can be dashed, expectations killed, and faith made useless because people change but Our God is unchanged. That is why the Bible says;
……“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:5-8 NKJV
Looking at this scripture critically, we can conclude with the words, “Cursed is the one who trust in man because men change, but blessed is the one who trust in the LORD because our God cannot change.” Hallelujah!
THERE IS A HUGE MESSAGE IN THIS SCRIPTURE.
I have seen nations blessed with a change of governments, and people rejoicing over their new leaders because of their trust in them and their promises. But few months down the line, they begin to curse the same leaders in the government they had blessed because people change.
Indeed, curse is he who trust in man!
I have seen seemingly loyal servants, spiritual sons or daughters, workers, or employees, treated with great honor by their masters, or spiritual fathers, because they trusted heavily on them.
The fathers or masters reveal things to them and show them great secrets of their lives, thinking these are the very sons and daughters that will carry the mantle of certain responsibility, yes, servants, employees, or workers they had waited for and longed for a long time.
But after a while the same spiritual sons and daughters, servants, employees or workers will betray them terribly and use the secrets they had learned and things they had seen to create terrible ruin for them. Indeed, cursed is he who trust in man!
The Bible spoke about a Hebrew king who was celebrating God’s faithfulness in his life, and in the process brought in envoys who came in from Babylon to his strong room or treasure house.
That king was Hezekiah! You do not show your treasures to people you do not trust. So, he must have trusted the people enough to show them his treasure.
But the very act became a ruin to his future; it created days when all that the people saw was carried away to Babylon. In other words, it created days of future loses and economic ruin even or his Children. I mean one act of trusting the wrong people ruined and entire future.
INDEED, CURSED IS HE WHO TRUST IN MAN!
The Bible says,
At that time Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.”
And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD.
‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” Isaiah 39:1-7 NKJV
Hezekiah behaved like a useless father in this scripture. A father who is not troubled by words like what Isaiah sent has failed in his responsibility. That could be why he had no child and why the LORD wanted him home earlier in life.
Sometimes, God will not give children to parents who will be irresponsible.
But Hezekiah finally got Manasseh and the guy brought great ruin to Israel. The import of this story is, trusting in man can ruin the future of a man. It can ruin our families and the future of our children.
I have listened to terrible stories of how children were introduced to sex at a very tender ages (two, three, five, and etc.) by employees, domestic staffs, uncles, aunties, and other close ones who parents trusted their children with.
Indeed, cursed is he who trust in man. But the same scripture also said;
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
IF YOU WANT TO LEAD A PEACEFUL LIFE ON EARTH, LEARN TO TRUST COMPLETELY IN GOD NOT MEN.
Learn to invest your confidence in the LORD not in lords or seemingly helpful people. Men and women do change but our God does not change. There could be very reliable friends in a man’s life, which can be very helpful. But in all it still remains better to trust in the LORD.
Hanging on to the unchangeable God always results in a blessed life. It always results in the fulfillment of His promises in our lives. Our devotional text says;
“But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.
For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Hebrews 6:9-15 NKJV
The principles of hanging on to God are clearly stated in this scripture. Abraham was presented as an example. The Bible says when God made a promised to Him, he hanged unto the LORD until it came to pass. But do not try that with a man. You will be disappointed.
Sometime it is not because the men are unreliable but because what they themselves relied upon to make their promises to you became unreliable.
THAT IS WHY THE BIBLE DID NOT TELL US WHICH CLASSED OF MEN NOT TO TRUST.
It did not even say we should trust in loyal and truthful people. It just says “cursed is he who trust in man, and make the arm of flesh his strength” it could be a loyal and truthful man, or a disloyal and untruthful one.
However we cannot operate in any relationship without some levels of trust. That means there is a required level of trust to have in someone in your life. Without trust there will be suspicion everywhere, leading to certain decisions and actions that ruins. So, depositing some levels of trust in people is a requirement in life.
For instance, it is our trust in a pilot that makes us board his plan, our trust in our wives or husbands that make us entrust our lives to them, or the trust on kids on parents that make them run to them. We cannot live life without some levels of trust in someone.
However, in trusting anyone we must be heavily guided by the LORD Himself who understands the hearts or thoughts of all men. Often we are guided by the testimony of others and our personal experience with the people.
But life has proven that If we are guided by the testimony of others about the people, or our own experiences, it is good but not the best. It is best to be guided by the LORD Himself because people’s testimonies could be wrong, and our experiences could be controlled by what we see in the lives of the people not what lies in their hearts.
The Bible says;
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?
I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:9-10 NKJV
No human being can search the heart of another or test their minds. Only God can do that. We are very limited when it comes to knowing what is other people’s hearts or minds. We may guess what is in their minds of hearts right, but a guess is not always enough.
There are things that lies in people’s hearts that have not even come to the knowledge of the people themselves; things that they are capable of doing that they themselves do not know.
YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GUESS THOSE THINGS. ONLY GOD CAN REVEAL THEM TO YOU.
That is why you just have to trust in His Holy Spirit and rely in Him when looking for who to relate with in close quarters, either as a spouse, an employee, a friend, a pastor, a teacher, a business partner, or etc.
We have been on a 30-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Holy Spirit on Biblical fasting.
One major thing that Biblical fasting will help us do is to engage the LORD to help us in who to trust. As we have said, it is very important that a heart or mind be searched or tested before we invest our trust in it. And since we cannot do it, we have to rely on the only one who can do it. We have to rely on the Spirit of the LORD.
If you rely on the LORD to show you something about someone before bringing them into your life, you will fast for it if the burden to be shown that thing is real and strong.
Personally, I do not fast for God to show me who people really are before bringing them close or investing the required level of trust in them, that is why I have been burnt severally. I have never engaged the power of Biblical fasting in that direction of my life, and I am not proud of it at all. It has ruined me badly.
I believe the LORD is talking to me this morning as well as to you. That we should wake up and begin to fast to seek His face to search the hearts of men for us and test their minds before we trust in them.
It is my prayer that we all heed to the word of the LORD this morning and learn to visit the threshing floor of Biblical fasting before invested the trust that is required for interpersonal relationships in people; or even live there, so that we can remain alert in the Spirit and be guided by He who have the capacity to know the thoughts of men afar off, searches their hearts, and test their minds.
Do not forget, even Jesus in the days of His flesh did not chose who should be among the twelve carnally. The Bible said He spent all night praying. Though the choice of Judas may be termed a wrong choice, but the choice of the others shows it pays to seek the LORD before bringing anyone close to you.
May the light of the LORD continue to shine on our ways in Jesus precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.” Luke 6:12-16 NKJV