This brings to mind Psalm 95, "Don't harden your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness."
How often the Israelites hardened their hearts against the Lord. They complained in the desert that they didn't have the right food or enough water, and even constructed an idol, the Golden Calf. And now, they are going back to worshipping idols and abandoning their God for the gods of the nations that surrounded them.
Because they didn't listen to God, Israel was attacked and pretty much destroyed. Only Judah was left, and that wouldn't last long either, because they, too, would abandon God and turn to idols.
Saturday, we were talking about God's "instruction manual" and how the Bible has the power to keep us on the right path. How much we are like the Israelites in the desert, the people of Israel and Judah who refused to listen to Moses and then to the prophets who tried to bring them back to the God who had saved them over and over again.
When do we stop hardening our hearts?
When do we obey both the letter and the spirit of the Law?
The spirit of all the laws is love.
The Israelites who allowed their children to be sacrificed to Baal were not exactly loving parents! Why would they do that?
I can't image their thinking, but they must have believed that sacrificing their children would bring them something worth having, but what could have been more important than their children?
We are probably glad that this doesn't happen anymore, but what about parents who believe that it's more important to work for a bigger house, a better car, or just a bigger bank account than spending time with their children?
Of course, there are those who need to work many hours just to put a roof over the heads of their children, but they are sacrificing for their children, not sacrificing their children!
Let's examine our own hearts and see how well we are living the law of lover.
