“I looked again—and there before me was a flying scroll! He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll, thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.” And he said to me, "This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. The LORD Almighty declares, 'I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his house and destroy it, both its timbers and its stones.' " Zech. 5:1-4
Today’s blog is a bit unpleasant. However, the Spirit kept annunciating this Scripture a little more heavily than the others. I've got my serious face on. And so here it goes…
The time is quickly coming (and has come) when God will no longer seemingly overlook dishonesty. Sometimes it seems like we are getting away with dishonesty in our lives because we don’t really see any consequences. It appears as if God is overlooking our shrewdness, exaggerations, and below-board practices. We might even think in our hearts, “God loves me, forgives me and knows I am only human.” How quickly the Lord’s patience causes us to grow complacent towards the “small” ways we avoid truthful, straight-forward living. Ecclesiastes 8:11 says:
Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.
The time has come to stop taking His great mercy for granted. It is time to deal some deadly blows to the cancer of dishonesty in our lives. It’s time to pray for the healthy fear/awe of the Lord to overtake us, overtake our children, overtake our nation. Healthy fear of the Lord means we really believe that God sees all and knows all. He really does care how we live. He created us to only be able to thrive when we “love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly with Him.” (Micah 6:8) The next verse in Ecclesiastes says:
Even though a person sins and gets by with it hundreds of times throughout a long life, I'm still convinced that the good life is reserved for the person who fears God, who lives reverently in his presence, and that the evil person will not experience a "good" life. No matter how many days he lives, they'll all be as flat and colorless as a shadow—because he doesn't fear God.
When healthy fear of the Lord (i.e., believing God is good and He’s bigger than me) is well-established in our hearts, we actually fear disappointing Him. We fear breaking fellowship with Him. Fear of the Lord makes us realize that while all things are permissible, not all things permit face to face living with God. Lying and stealing banish us from living openly in His Presence. Dishonesty of any sort invites the destroying curse into our midst that will surely destroy the life or the house we are building right down to our very timbers and stones.
Having just returned from a vacation to Mexico, I witnessed this unfortunate principle on a wide-scale. Because corrupt practices are the norm, the country lies in poverty. The reason is if we, for example, feared climbing into a taxi lest the rate suddenly double without recourse, why would investors and entrepreneurs trust they could build their businesses there? If everyone from the taxi-drivers to the highest officials would say what they mean and mean what they say, despise manipulative bribes, and allow the rule of law to serve justice, then Mexico might stand amongst the most prosperous of countries. (And may our country take heed lest we think we are immune! Nothing but the fear of the Lord will restore us!)
In direct opposition to the fear of the Lord, there is unhealthy fear. Unhealthy fear is hell’s greatest fuel. Dishonesty is a gate of hell fueled by this kind of fear. When we are tempted towards dishonest gain, it’s important to discern the unhealthy fear energizing our hearts toward lying. Unhealthy fear makes us believe, “I am on my own and must therefore do whatever it takes to promote and protect myself.”
When it comes down to it, what do we really believe? Do we believe we’re better off trusting in a few cheap tricks, thereby forfeiting God’s favor? Or do we believe God really is for us—really is with us—and we are therefore better off forfeiting our measly small-change cheats in exchange for life fully charged by Him? His name is Spirit of Truth. Do we really think He can abide with anything less than the undefiled truth? If indeed we are born-again children of the Spirit of Truth, let us fear nothing except a life banished from His Presence.
So now what? What are we to do? It’s really quite simple. It’s the same thing I told my boys the other day: never ever ever ever ever never ever ever ever ever never ever ever ever ever never ever ever ever ever never ever ever ever ever NEVER be afraid to be honest and do the right thing. And, also prayer is always good…
God help me. I want all forms of dishonesty to be like a foreign language to me. I want honesty to be my rule—my first reaction—my very nature. Spirit of Truth, cause me to cherish truthful living above the fear of missing out. I pray these things not only for me, but for our entire nation. Let the spirit of the fear of the Lord fall upon those in government, business, education, churches, families, media, and the entertainment arenas. Let revival begin with revived fear of the Lord, and let it begin with me.
Note: Here are the links to two chapters out of my book The Coram Deo Secret if you would like to read more about The Fear of the Lord and Honesty...
3 comments:
Thank you for posting this! Life is so much sweeter when dealing with people who walk the honest path and fear God. I liked your thoughts, when we fear God, it grows into not wanting to disappoint Him. I recall a childhood song, "oh be careful little eyes what you see, ears what you hear, feet where you go....for the Father up above is looking down in love." That song had/has a huge impact on my decision making. Lying and stealing break the Big 10, they also break fellowship with others and with God. The words from Zechariah are great reminders of how clear cut God stands on this issue. Thanks for sharing Marisa!
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