Safe Passage
October 14, 2024
Total Return
March 07, 2018
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, " If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." -1 Samuel 7:3
When your repentance is as notable as your sin was infamous, the heart has made its way back to God, to paraphrase Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Such repentance involves getting rid of the “foreign gods” and the “Ashtoreth.” The Holy of Holies was a room in the Temple reserved only for God. Only the High Priest could enter on a specified day once a year. Your heart is the Holy of Holies of the bodily temple. There is to be only one Occupant—the living God. True repentance dethrones all the idols, and seats the Lord in His reserved place.
Baal and Ashtoreth worship were at the core of pagan culture. Today, when we bow to the “god of this world,” or age (2 Corinthians 4:4), it is the worship of the deities of our pagan culture. When people have been able to see the idols towering in our lives, and suddenly the poles and altars are gone, it is clear we have returned to God with all our heart. Until the idols are gone, there is only partial repentance, or maybe none at all.
TODAY’S FOCUS
Tell God that you want your heart reserved for Him alone and that your desire is for all the idols there torn down and dethroned.
Baal and Ashtoreth worship were at the core of pagan culture. Today, when we bow to the “god of this world,” or age (2 Corinthians 4:4), it is the worship of the deities of our pagan culture. When people have been able to see the idols towering in our lives, and suddenly the poles and altars are gone, it is clear we have returned to God with all our heart. Until the idols are gone, there is only partial repentance, or maybe none at all.
TODAY’S FOCUS
Tell God that you want your heart reserved for Him alone and that your desire is for all the idols there torn down and dethroned.
