The High Places.

     The children of Israel wanted a king, someone other than Jesus, so He gave them exactly what they asked for.  Some of the kings destroyed them, leading them further away from the Lord, while others followed in the steps of King David, leading them closer to Him.  However, the kings that feared the Lord did not do one very important thing, they did not remove the high places.  The high places were areas outside of the city where the people would go to create shrines for their many gods and to pray, seek and worship their idols  (2 Kings). While the intentions of the kings who loved the Lord were good, they unknowingly were leading the people back to the very things that the Lord wanted to free them from.

     In the past I have read about the children of Israel with my nose up in the air, baffled at their lack of discernment and trust in God.  Hello, didn't you guys see God?  You saw Him work, He brought you Quail by the thousands, Uh, and not to mention He led you by a cloud in the day and fire at night.  For goodness sakes, you guys walked for forty years and your shoes did not even wear down, you walked across a sea on dry land and you were thirsty and God gave you water out of a rock!  Quickly forgetting all of that, as soon as the Lord didn't respond how they thought He should in the timing that seemed right to them or God forbid they had to wait for ANYTHING, they high-tailed it back up the mountain to seek their other gods.  Sound familiar? As I read this, I was convicted.  How often do I take matters into my own hands?  More than I would like to admit.  How many times have I not been satisfied with what the Lord was doing in my life that I shimmied back up the mountain to the things that were once comfortable?

     Let's keep it real with ourselves.  While we may not physically climb up the mountain, in our hearts we have made the journey many times.  We have blatantly stepped ahead of the Lord while letting Him know that His way was not good enough.  Throwing up the deuces as we passed by Him saying, "I've got this God, I know what to do to make myself feel better, I know who can quickly fill that longing in my heart for now and those fleshy urges that I have? Pssssh, no worries, Jesus, I'll get them taken care of."  By not getting rid of those things in our lives that so easily ensnare us, completely surrendering them all to the Lord and allowing Him to tear down those things that hold a higher place in our hearts than He does, we deceive ourselves.  We are not as strong as we think we are.  It is way too easy to go back.  We need Him, above everything else, we need Him.  We need to allow Him to tear down those shrines in our hearts, to reveal to us those things that we are clinging to that are not of Him.  His timing can not be beat and His ways are impeccable, much better than we could ever orchestrate on our own.  I choose to trust Him.