Man must spend his strength on things that matter. In doing so, we must focus our efforts upon the right things while working through and by God's power.
Sin is not to be considered a light matter. In other words, it is not to be mocked. Only a fool would demonstrate this kind of behaviour toward sin.
In establishing His covenant with Israel, God promised them He would have respect unto them, make them fruitful, and multiply them.
The land cannot continually endure the stress of producing the same crops without some time of rest for renewal. Man is no different.
Rebellion is a willing conscious decision to refuse the instruction of another. The Lord describes this in Zechariah 7:11 when He said, “they refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.” This is a powerful illustration and picture! It almost seems like the Lord has a hand on the shoulder of the rebel but when faced with the Lord’s instruction, a rebel pulls away from the Lord’s gentle grasp. As he pulls away, the rebel turns his back and closes his ears to the Lord’s instruction. The Lord affirms this in Jeremiah 32:33 when He said, “they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.”
The words chastening and punishment are like many Bible words that share an overlapping meaning but also exhibit certain variants. A Bible-believer always trusts that God carefully chose His words to accomplish His expressed purpose in any given passage. On the surface, it would seem like the words punish (Leviticus 26:24) and chastise (Leviticus 26:28) seem completely interchangeable, but a thorough study of the whole counsel of God reveals distinctions. One area in which there appears to be a distinction involves the intended purpose of execution. Punishment is the infliction of judgment for the sake of justice, while chastening is the application of judgment for the sake of correction.
Contention comes when two parties have conflicting desires or points of view and are unwilling to amicably resolve them. Oftentimes, pride hinders either party from admitting their errors or even the possibility of their being partially to blame. Contention ceases in the absence of pride. When Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, became king, the people of God came to him requesting relief from the heavy burden of taxes that had been placed upon them by Solomon. The older men counselled Rehoboam to do as the people requested, but the younger men instructed Rehoboam to reject the wishes of the people. Rehoboam contentiously responded to the people’s request with pride; strife understandably followed (1 Kings 12:1-16).
The scripture offers many examples of those who suffered the consequences of choosing to follow ungodly counsel. As children of God, it is imperative that we do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Following the wrong counsel results in severe consequences. For example, Rehoboam in 1 Kings chapter 12 sought counsel from both the older men who had served his father and the younger men who were his peers. However, he chose to follow the counsel of his peers while refusing the counsel and wisdom of the older men. The unwise counsel resulted in splitting the kingdom with the vast majority following Jeroboam as their new king. Jereboam unfortunately led many of the Israelites into pagan worship (1 Kings 12:25-30).
Many things have changed since Old Testament times. For instance, the Lord visited His people in the temple or tabernacle in the Old Testament by dwelling between the cherubims on the ark of God (Psalm 80:1). This ended especially with the onset of the New Testament and the permanent indwelling of God's Spirit within believers. The Lord stressed, “. . . that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16). For this reason, the New Testament does not place as much emphasis on reverence in the physical house of God. Regardless, the Lord is not silent concerning our behaviour in His house. We should behave ourselves both respectfully and properly (1 Timothy 3:15). Of all people, Bible believers should demonstrate reverence in the house of God so that others get a sense for our awe of God and His goodness.
