Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
I have been reading my way through Genesis again, and I came to the story of Jacob. (You can find it in Genesis chs. 30-34) Jacob was a dirty rotten scoundrel. Really, that’s putting it mildly. Jacob stole, he cheated, he lied, etc., but even through all of this God blessed him. God was with Jacob, and all that he did prospered. Many times when we read stories like this (the Bibles full of them) we wonder how could God bless people like that.
Take for example the life of King David; King David was a man who committed murder, had an adulterous affair, and God only knows what else. But the Bible says that David was “a man after God’s own heart.” We feel like saying, “Excuse me God! Do you not remember Bethsheba, or her husband Uriah who David had killed?”
We think, because our humanity, that these actions should disqualify David, or anyone from the love of God. But, our actions as strong a witness as they are either for us or against us do not tell the whole stoy of our motives. Our real intentions can be known by only two people, Well one person,US,and one deity, GOD. Our intentions are in our hearts, and the true motives of our hearts can only be known by us and God.
I Samuel 16:7 says, “… the Lord looks at the heart.” God knows what we think, what we feel, and what we truly believe in our hearts. I am so glad that God sees my heart, and not just my actions. Sometimes my actions don’t match up with my beliefs; like Jacob and David I feel like a dirty rotten scoundrel, but whenever I feel like that I know that I can cry out to God, and He will clean me off from the scum I got into!
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Father, I thank You for loving me despite my failures, and I ask that You would help me more and more to keep my actions in line with Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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