URGENT: Please Read Immediately

***Urgent***

Did that title get your attention? It probably piqued your curiosity a little bit since I never mark my posts with the word "Urgent". Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know that I often use the word 'random', but never use the word 'urgent'. Many of you guys have never even seen me in person, but you know enough about my character from this blog to know that the title of this post is not usual for me.


I wonder if we know God that way. We have never actually seen God in person, but do we read His Word enough to know His character? Do we know enough about Him to know what is 'urgent' with God and what is the 'usual'? Let me give you an example......the ten commandments tell us not to lie, not to steal, not to want what our neighbor has, etc, etc. Those things are what God tells us to do daily - they are the usual, everyday things He asks of us. But then there are some things that God has marked 'urgent'.


Ezekiel 14:6 says, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! Sounds pretty urgent to me, I mean did you see those !exclamation marks!?. Or what about in Mark 16 where it says, "Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation". I consider a rebuke from Jesus followed by a command pretty urgent, don't you? I'm guessing the disciples considered what He said that day to be very urgent.

In my own life, there are times when I feel the Lord is asking me to do something that He has marked 'urgent' and I don't act on it immediately. (Delayed obedience is definitely disobedience - ask any mother and she will tell you that). Then there are times when I don't act at all. Is it because I don't know enough about the true nature and character of God? Maybe. Is it because I don't study the Word enough? Probably. I am sure that is true of most of us (with very few exceptions). I daresay if we could truly look into the heart of God and see His great love for us, see that He is always for us, always out for what is best for us, that He desires to bless us --- we would never hesitate to act when He urges us to do something 'now'.

God knew that we would be stubborn, He knew we would be slow to act and quick to react, He knew we would place things He considers urgent on our own personal back burner, He knew we would have trouble obeying the 'usual and customary' things He asked of us.....He knew these things long before we were created, which is why He gave us His Word. He knew that if He didn't give us a record of who He really is and how He really feels about us, we would never understand the rigidness of some of His commands. He knew that if He didn't explain that the reason He disciplines us is because He loves us, we would never willingly obey. He knew that without the Bible to lead us along, His sheep would all be wandering aimlessly about being devoured by wolves. He knew that without the Bible we would never know His true character and we would never know about His deep love for us...................

He also knew that some of His people would get so caught up in their lives (and with the world in general) they would neglect His word and therefore miss out on truly knowing Him in an intimate way. He knew that no matter how much He wants to reveal Himself to us, some people would live their lives never knowing who He really is. Our goal should be to know god better and more intimately than we do anyone here on earth. We know the most about the people with whom we spend the most time. I wonder how many of us know more about the character of our fellow bloggers whom we have never seen than we do about the character of God?

Just something to link about, I mean think about............;-)