Are you making a deal with the Devil?
Saints, do any of you remember taking math tests in high school? Do you remember those math problems where you gave the answer without going through the steps revealing how you arrived at it? I remember my teacher would always mark my answer in red as wrong even though the answer was correct.
That always troubled me as I thought it ridiculous to take time from finishing the test to go through the steps and not be able to complete the other problems.
Saints, I now realize in my much more mature age that my teacher was teaching me the importance of linear thought as well as a Spiritual lesson. I wonder if she was even aware of the latter?
NUGGET ONE
Saints, how many times in our Spiritual walk do we make decisions in haste that we feel are accurate without God? Without seeking God’s guidance? Without standing on His promises to protect us?
Saints, thus finding ourselves in a dilemma because we decided in haste. Even making a deal with the Devil! Knowing more than God!
Well, Saints, you were not alone! Isaiah gave a message from God to the Israelites that they in haste made a covenant with death and hell. A covenant that was made with unbelievers that had even lied to them. Seeking the protection of unbelievers when God had a covenant to protect them!
Isaiah 28:14–15 (KJV)
“Wherefore hear the Word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15 Because ye have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves . . .’”
NUGGET TWO
Ah, Saints, the very next word is like music of deliverance to our hearts! This word is the love of our Father to us even today, ”therefore”! It is a word symbolizing our Father to the rescue of His hard-headed children . . . us!
Our Father said, “I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Yes, Saints, He is referencing the church but also our hearts.
Who is this stone? Saints, it is Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son! Look with me at His résumé!
A tried stone! Jesus would defeat the world for them and has already defeated the world for us at the cross, where He prepared a way of deliverance for our souls! Oh yes, He had taken on the world and defeated Satan! Christ our foundation is tried, tested and guaranteed!
Isaiah 26:3–4 (KJV)
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength . . .”
A precious cornerstone! The cornerstone was usually thirty-eight feet long and one hundred tons! Saints, this symbolizes the unlimited power and strength of our Messiah! Without this stone the building would collapse and without this stone our lives and churches will collapse! For His power and grace towards us and the church is new every morning and sufficient for that day. No need to make haste, Saints!
Psalm 37:7 (KJV)
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself . . .”
A sure foundation! Saints, our Savior is secure enough to build our church upon and secure enough to build our lives upon! Daily we are to build upon this foundation by faith and trust in Jesus. Standing sure and secure upon this faith through the trials of this life.
Charles H. Spurgeon puts it this way, “For how canst thou know that thou haste faith until thy faith is exercised? Real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials!”
This article is an excerpt from the chapter: “Are You Making A Deal With the Devil?” in George Proctor’s book, Nuggets to Live By.
