Week #50 – Righteousness

Deuteronomy 12:28-32 – Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God. The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

 

Judges 21:25 – In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. AKJV

 

It may be interesting to note that there was a King in Israel at that time but He had apparently been rejected.  God was their King, and He had given them His moral Law.  Although they had covenanted obedience to God, they had violated every command He gave to them.  They had walked into idolatry and sexual immorality of every kind, and had become like the people around them.  There was no longer any code of ethics that the Israelites adhered to.  They had lost their moral compass.  “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”  Which basically means that each person determined what was right and wrong for himself.  As a people, they abandoned God’s Law and each one took license to script his own rules for conduct.  They were not willing to accept a standard of righteousness from the authority of God.  They bought the line that no one had the right to impose his religious views on anyone else and that everyone is free to live as he pleases.  Thus, they became amoral, and as a result, in God’s eyes, they became immoral!

The Bible gives us many great lessons from history so that we might learn and not repeat the same mistakes.  However, humans seem doomed to continue repeating the same stupid blunders as those who have gone before us!  This stupidity is the result of either ignoring God’s righteous standard or belligerently establishing another standard of righteous conduct.  We must ask ourselves, “How does God see it?”  Listen to a litany of righteous ups and downs from Israel’s history in the books of Kings & Chronicles: “Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Nadab did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Baasha did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Zimri died because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and sinned more than all those before him.”  “Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.” “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife.” “Jehoshaphat did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Ahaziah did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Joram did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Jehoram did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Ahaziah did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Jehoahaz did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  “Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” “Jeroboam did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  And, we could go on and on, but I think you get it by now.  Right and wrong must be measured “in the eyes of God!”  To do any less or differently is going to miss the mark!

How about you?  Where does your concept of right and wrong come from?  Does what God sees and thinks matter most to you?  Or, have you fallen victim to the philosophies and practices of the world around you that ignore or deny the righteous standards that God has revealed to us in His Holy Word? 

 

Thursday:                   

• Meet together with at least 1 or 2 other believers to enter the Throne Room of Grace.
• Join our 6:00pm Thursday night prayer team.         

Friday:             

• Give thanks for the Word of God that teaches us how things look to God.
• Pray for the Good News families of the week: Betty George, Pete & Laurel George (Annabeth, Luke, ?), Pastor Dave & Cindy George

Saturday:       

• Thank God for revealing to us His righteous standards!  Confess any ways that you have fallen short of His righteous standard.

Sunday:                      

• Pray that believers will not shrink back from doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord!
• Join in with our Sunday prayer services to pray for God’s presence and blessing.

 Monday:                                 

• Pray for fathers who will lead their homes by doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord!
• Attend “In Touch” Prayer meeting at GNCC at 10:30am or join in prayer at that time.

 Tuesday:       

• Pray for a revival of God’s righteousness in our nation; that a generation of national leaders will be raised up with a strong desire to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord!

Wednesday:   

• Pray that many will repent and turn from anything that is evil, wicked or unrighteous in the eyes of the Lord! 

Prayer Challenge: Confess any known sin or unrighteousness.  Repent and begin to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord regarding those matters.  Pray for Christian fathers to have the courage, strength and purity to lead their families in seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness above all else.  And, pray that God will deliver us from being a people who insist on doing what is right in our own eyes.