“For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter.” Deuteronomy 32:32 (NASB)
I stood watching the ants move frantically about as they picked up the food pouring down around them. Marc continued to sprinkle the contents of the canister which clearly bore the skull and crossbones across the side identifying its contents as poison.
Teddy, our 4 year old Golden Retriever and Gracie, our new eight-week old Golden Retriever puppy, watched from outside the triangular barrier which would guard them from getting into the affected area.
Later that afternoon I returned to the barrier and peered over to where just hours before the anthill had been teaming with life. There were lifeless ants lying about while others continued feasting on the food and staggered as they carried the poison into the tunnel to give to other ants in their home beneath the surface.
The ants were unable to read the warnings on the canister. They had no one to warn them. They had no discernment. They simply hurried to what looked pleasing to them and they devoured it and not only devoured it but carried it to others to share and have them join them. They thought it worth the struggle. But what they thought would bring life resulted in death. It didn’t matter how attractive the container or sweet smelling the food, it destroyed them.
In effect the ants had seen the food and declared it good when it was bad through and through.
Isaiah 5:18 gives this warning, “Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood and sin as if with cart ropes. And verse 20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
As I read Deuteronomy 32 this morning and studied its meaning I learned that the people of God lacked discernment. They went after what appeared good to them. God warned them that He was about to act and would bring His truth to bear on Israel’s behavior. God told Israel that their enemies (the Assyrians and the Babylonians) were as evil as Sodom and Gomorrah and figuratively speaking even their grapes and wine were filled with poison.
Things are no different today. There are those who scurry about picking up whatever the latest popular false teachers are pouring out. They are taken in by noble sounding words and colorful packaging and the sweet smell and they rush to consume it and not only that, they pick it up and carry it to share with others. Eventually the poisonous false teaching which is contrary to the Word of God does its work and they begin to stagger as that which they thought would lead to life brings spiritual death instead.
Paul warns Timothy of such men in 2 Timothy 3:13, “But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
So what are we to do? Dear ones, God has given us a barrier, a plumb line which is His Word. We must know it and stay firmly and steadfastly within its borders, and discard anything contrary to it.
“…our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:13-18 (NASB)
What can we know about the Word of God? The place to learn about the Word of God is in the pages of the Word of God which is how God speaks to us.
For the word of the LORD is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
Psalms 33:4 (NIV)
20 He sent forth his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave
Psalms 107:20 (NIV)
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Psalms 119:11 (NIV)
89 Your word, O LORD, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.
Psalms 119:89 (NIV)
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
Psalms 119:105 (NIV)
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever."
Isaiah 40:8 (NIV)
25 "I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' 26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the LORD. 29 "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
Jer 23:25-29 (NIV)
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Heb 4:12 (NIV)
These are just a few Scriptures I found in my study today. I encourage you to look for yourself.
God’s Word is indeed living and active. May we devour it, take it in, delight in it, know it, live in it, obey it, speak it, trust it, believe it, and share it. May we think it worth the daily struggle in this fallen world to carry the truth of the Word of God to share with those we love and to those who are strangers, may we take it in and by it put on the full armor of God in Christ Jesus as we walk about in our everyday life. Be watchful. Be aware. As you listen to various thoughts and teachings, look at them through the lens of the Word of God. Let us not be fooled by clever words and creative marketing and noble sounding causes. Beware of poison.
An original Conversations at the Well
© Copyright by Diana Morgan August 2, 2012
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