The Devil’s Toolbox Part 2: The Lust For Things – The Saturday Morning Post
Today’s Reading – Psalms 73 – 77 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Revelation 17 – 22; Psalms 146 – 150; Proverbs 30 – 31)
Read the “0630 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (Psalm 73:3)
Good morning. Yes, that’s me standing in front of my all-time favorite car: a ’67 or ’68 Shelby Mustang convertible with padded roll bar. And it’s red! You would need to be a millionaire to own one just for the gas bill: 427/428 with dual Holly 4 barrels. Nice. Just out of curiosity, I found 2 for sale. But what am I going to do with a car that costs almost $200,000? First, I need to move from my trailer to a house with a garage. That’s anywhere from $150 to $250 thousand, or even more. Alarm systems need to be installed. Now that I have a place to keep it, I can only look at it. With the huge engine and dual Holly 4 barrel carbs, who can afford the gas?
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” (Genesis 3:1-7)
That’s the way the devil works. He dangles something we would like to have in front of our eyes, and just like Adam and Eve, we take the bait. With a credit card it is very easy to get what we want now. The hard part is when the beginning of the month comes and the bill is due. Now you have to get a second job to pay for all this stuff. And, of course, that will take you away from doing the Lord’s work. You may be so tired that you stop reading your Bible.
“All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” (Ecclesiastes 1:7-8)
“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4:1-3)
“Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.” (Proverbs 27:20)
What can we do, when the devil takes this lust out of his toolbox, and uses it against us?
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
I may not have that Shelby, but I have everything I need. The Lord takes care of His children. Just this week my pressure washer broke. Rather than scrambling to dig up money to buy a new one, I was able to borrow one. This one was gas powered and did a much better job than my old electric one: making my job easier. God takes care of His children.
If you understand that God will supply your every need, then when the devil dangles that carrot in front of your face, you don’t have to chase after it.
“Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matthew 6:30-32)
If you are going to run after something, let it be riches in Heaven…
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19)
Peace.
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