Self-Destruction

Letting Man Have His Way

As a child, you may have once told your parents, "Just let me do what I want to do!"  You might have felt that your parents stood in your way and were obstacles to your right of free expression.  If only they would realize that you were your own person and just let you have your own way, things would be fine.  In our ignorance, we did not understand that the actions of our parents were actions of LOVE, meant to protect us from our crazy selves.

It is the same with God.  The commands He gives us to obey are for our protection, for our good.  Yet, the rebellious nature frequently misinterprets the loving arms of protection as bondage or restriction.

This is why, oftentimes, all that God has to do to judge man is to leave man to himself.  When God is convicting us of sin, correcting us, chastening us...this is all His mercy in our lives.  It is when He "gives us up" to our own ways that we need to be worried (Acts 7:42; Romans 1:24, 26, 28; II Thessalonians 2:11-12).  More on God "giving up" man to himself can be read in the article, "The Three Give Ups of God" from Pastor Gary C. Price at Omega Church & Ministries Center.

Below is a video from Dr. Helen Caldicott about the current nuclear fallout in Japan.  The purpose of sharing this is not to be an alarmist, as we know that God's hand is always on His people. However, it does highlight the depravity of the mind of man.  Even in our intellectual brilliance, the fallen nature of man can only eventually bring about his own destruction.

Without the omniscient and omnipotent hand of God covering mankind, the type of destruction outlined in this video - as a result of man's own devices - is inevitable.

The BBC recently reported that the severity rating for the nuclear crisis in Japan has been raised to Chernobyl levels.  In the article, it is reported:

"We have upgraded the severity level to seven as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," said Minoru Oogoda of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), the government's nuclear watchdog.

In fact, as echoed in the video, the article confirms that the situation in Fukishima is likely to exceed the leaks at Chernobyl. 

However, those who heed the voice of the Lord will be safe from evil, even while in the midst of utter chaos and decay.  This is God's promise to us.  We need not fear, simply set your face like a flint to hear and obey God's word as we proclaim His righteousness as a light in the midst of a dark and damned world.

Decades ago, there was a collaborative rap song called "Self destruction" which appealed to man's common decency and sense of reason.  It called for young people to rise up and turn from the road of self-destruction.  The answer for man - according to this song - was for men to come together and work towards a better tomorrow.  This is a refrain we continue to hear even today.  The answer to the world's ills is for man to "come together" in unity.  Yet I tell you that it is man who has gotten us to this point.  What we need now is not more wisdom of men, but to place complete trust in the God of Heaven...if we have not already done so.

Man's own ingenuity has resulted in an apocalyptic situation in this earth that is beyond man's ability to reverse.  This is what happens when God begins to let man have his own way; yet who will heed the call to turn?

"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil."  Proverbs 1:20- 33