*Today’s Devotion*
*Topic: Now Look; Your House Is Desolate*
Text: Matt. 23:38
_And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. Amen_
One day Jesus preached with strong passion and called to repentance all those teachers of the law and Pharisees who do not practice what they preach. He condemned how they loved to display in public places and how they shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. He said “you yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. ”
The Master continued, saying _”woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You travel over the land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. He also condemned how they appeared righteous before men but were full of hypocrisy and wickedness on the inside._ (Matthew 23)
_Afterwards, the Master turned His attention on the people of Israel, yes; His own being misled by the so called teachers of the law. He said “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate.” (Matt 23: 37- 38, NLT)_
Jesus said this because it was for the fulfilment of the law, the redemption of man from sin and the reconciliation of man back to God, that He had come. But the people remained very stubborn and hostile to Him just as they were to all the genuine prophets of God in the past. He said, “How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wing”, to signify every effort to keep us in Him; fed, kept, protected, nourished and taught. But we wouldn’t let Him. So now we have become empty and desolate with no bearing or hope.
Beloved, the same happens in our day too. We love those who exploit us, mislead us, misinform us and compel our obedience with words that appeal to our itchy ears. We do not want to know the Lord for ourselves. We are stubborn to His guidance and resistant to His Word.
Each dawn the Lord personally wakes you up to fellowship with Him, you would rather sleep and call a pastor on radio later in the day to pray for you. Each time the Lord prompts you to read His Word, you will excuse that you don’t understand what you read and then buy any book about the Bible written by anyone whose spiritual source you cannot verify, and believe everything it says. You are that stubborn and resistant, unless to those things that appeal to your itchy ears. That is why after all the rituals and activities, you still feel empty and desolate.
Mediate on this word and begin to pray. The hen takes care of her own chicks better than anyone else could. Don’t chat your own course to salvation nor follow their misleadings just to end up with them in hell. Allow the Lord to cultivate, prune and make you like Himself so you do not miss your blessings here on earth or the blessing to spend eternity with Him in heaven.
Begin to pray that your stony heart be broken towards the things of God so that you can be more obedient to His word and have it transform you into His nature and purpose. He is the way, the truth and the light. Besides Him, there is none. Dwell under His feet, stick to His Word, remain blessed now and forevermore.
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