Isaiah writes in chapter 17 of the pending destruction for Damascus. Not a good run in the chapters recently in this book. City after city, nation after nation destroyed. The story is pretty similar here. These folks have done well but now are going into tough times. All they have investedin, the things they have made and given their attention to – well scripture says they will “lose interest in all the stuff they’ve made”. This stuff seemed pretty important until things got difficult and then it doesn’t really matter much at all. I wonder how much of the stuff in our life every day – from possessions to how we spend our time – would be different if we were in a life and death struggle. My guess is most of it would fall away.
Scripture does tell us why they are going to be destroyed. “Because you have forgotten God…even though you are very religious”. God was no longer on the throne for these folks. They had replaced Him with self and are now going to pay a strong price for that. We cannot forget God. We cannot just put Him on the mantle and ignore Him til we need Him. It doesn’t work that way. And equally as important, we have to make sure the relationship we have with him is not just surface. Being religious is not what God wants from us. He wants relationship. He wants us to be relationous (which I am sure is not a word but what the heck). It is all about us being personally connected to Him as our Father and having a saving relationship with Jesus His Son. We have to be relational with God. Going to church does not cut it by itself. He wants daily, moment by moment relationship. He wants us to be in communication with Him (prayer). He wants us to be reading and studying His Word to us (Bible). He wants us to be connected – plugged into the only real source of power there is for our lives in this world. When we lose that and let religion replace relationship we are in trouble. We are destined for some very tough times and that is when stuff creeps in and takes our time and money from God. We can’t let that happen. We must focus on relationship – with God and with each other. That is what He expects and demands.
Posted by asorensen 
