DOES GOD LOOK THE OTHER WAY?

Text:  “He says in his heart, ‘”God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.'”   Psalms 10:11

Men frequently invent excuses to overlook their sins. There’s that old thing that Adam did when he and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit. When God questioned him he replied, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12)  Adam did not exonerate himself, but he did try to excuse himself!  King Saul was to meet Samuel at Gilgal to offer sacrifice. Against the direct instructions of the prophet, when Samuel was delayed, Saul offered the sacrifices himself. Samuel showed up when the sacrifices  were finished and challenged Saul who had acted without authority. Saul tried to weasel out and said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” I Samuel 13:11-12  Saul’s excuse was, Circumstances forced me.

Excuses are offered for offences a man has already committed and sins which a man contemplates committing in the future. The first attempt is to moderate the punishment he deserves. The second is to evade the guilt of something wrong that he wants to do. Both are meant to disallow the guilt of one’s disobedience. This is evasion. Guilt can never be evaded. His laws are inescapable.

This is a serious matter. It is serious because the sinner repudiates God and his laws. This person has dismissed God, usurping him and replacing him with human self-rule. Further, he has negated God’s eternal laws substituting his own will. “You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 5:7

Why do disobedient persons want to ignore God and  discard his laws? The list could be long but we will touch on only a few. The first would be pride, man’s overblown estimate of himself.(Proverbs 16:18; 29:23) It’s companion would be egoism, putting one’s self above everyone else. To enumerate a few more: lust, rebellion, greed, hatred, and domination. All of these are part of selfishness.  And there are many more things that Satan uses to entice a person to disobey God.  Notice that these are foibles that men are willing to ignore in order to get what they long to obtain.

One last thought. Those who deny and suspend for themselves the everlasting laws of God are pulling the wool over their own eyes!  Yes, we are woefully able to bamboozle our very souls in order to satisfy our own lusts!

“Let no man deceive himself.”  I Corinthians 6:18

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:13