Day 2807 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Isaiah 64:7 NIV

I sit here this morning staring out the window at a world enveloped in fog. Just a cool fall morning, but so many times in life there's a deeper message to be found if we just look for it. Fog is an obscurant that all of us recognize. It's a curtain that conceals the normal to which we're accustomed. But as much as we may recognize fog as it manifests atmospherically and environmentally, I fear we usually fail to notice it declare its presence spiritually.

Sin exists as a fog within our hearts and minds. You see, sin tells us that we’ve found the way to everything we want while only leading us into the mist. It blinds us to the truth. It lures us into a laziness in which we don’t worry about what’s ahead and focus instead on only what’s right in front of us. And as we focus in on the here and now, we quickly give sway to our intense desires to make this life fun and exciting and comfortable. And as we get more of what our deceitful hearts crave, we slowly start caring less and less about God and His commands and the warnings about what awaits the close of our time on this earth.

The fog of sin just grows thicker as we give into it and allow ourselves to be led by the world rather than choosing to strive for something more.

You see, as we discussed yesterday, our sins have caused God to hide His face from us. He has given us the latitude to engage our levity. He has known our hearts from their first beat, and so He knows just how badly we crave to run away from His over watch so that we can do as we please without His presence there to bother us. He knows that we're a rebellious creation, and that as such, we just want to do the opposite of what He calls us to do.

He knows that for so long we’ve bought into the lies of this world that tell us we’re free to do as we please, and that His path built upon righteousness and self-control holds little appeal to a people who have long defined freedom as mere indulgence. And so, rather than forcing us to do this His way, He simply let us make that choice to wander off in search of something better. He hid His face so that He wouldn’t get in our way of living our way. He gave us what we wanted, even though it’s so much less than what He wants for us.

He knows that humanity has made the choice to run away from Him forever, and though it breaks His heart, He won't force us to reconsider. He just stands there, right where we left Him, wishing deeply that we could just see beyond the excitement that conceals misery and shame. He remains seated upon a throne of light and righteousness whispering His truth into our hearts knowing full well that the vast majority will simply ignore it. He knows that most will simply never change, no matter how graphic the display of His love, because their hearts are lost in obscurity.

What's truly sad is that we look around at society, and more clearly at our own lives, and we see this blatant lack of urgency. We live as if we have time to indulge in everything we want for a while longer and still manage to turn it all around right there at the end so that we still get the promise of Heaven as well. We live like our time here is our time to partake in everything this world has to offer, no matter how dark or deranged, and that salvation is simply a matter to be sorted later on.

We accept a life spent lost simply because doing so is normal. We've accepted the ways of the world as normal. We watch the world and simply repeat. We echo the messages that the masses utter. We copy the motives and movements of a warped generation simply because doing what everyone else does is far easier than taking a different path toward an alien destination. It’s like part of us wants Heaven but we don’t want to have to take a different road than the one that society has chosen.

But the danger of fog is that it makes reality hard to see. We don't necessarily have the full picture by which to ensure we're going the right direction. We don't really have all the information, and so we're left to simply assume and hope for the best. We rely on instinct and external help to find our way, just trusting that neither we nor anyone else around us would knowingly lead us wrong. And so we look to the world to help us figure out what to do, where to go, what's important, and how we should be living. And over time, the status quo becomes all we know, and we stop trying.

We stop trying to do better. We stop trying to aim higher. We quit the expedition to the top of the summit and simply settle for hanging out at base camp where we have more company and comfort. We turn off the voice telling us we can make it to something few have ever seen or felt or known, and we tune our hearts instead to the numerous opinions telling us that what we've already accomplished is more than enough.

We settle for staying lost simply because it’s normal and we don’t have to feel the need to worry as everyone else is lost too.

We sadly see this even in the church. We claim to be a people after Christ's heart, and yet we see an equal measure of placation toward the world around us. We hear messages that seem to desire a deeper relationship with Jesus, and yet we also hear messages that want everyone to be comfortable. We see this dizzying blend of desire for more of God and yet also a desire to not have to try too hard. We want to say the right things but not necessarily have to strive to put those words into action.

And so, here we are. We've gotten everything we want. We've been given the freedom to make our choices and we've taken that freedom to mean that our choices don't matter and aren't overly important. We have a God who desires so much more for us and from us but who won't force the matter. We've been handed this offering of salvation but we just stopped at hoping on that promise rather than actually living our every day in a manner that shows we need it. We continue to blindly plunge further into the fog of self-indulgence and immorality completely oblivious to the possibility that we're going the wrong way.

Friends, how long can we refuse to try? How long can we just assume we have more time or that we're not all that bad or that our lives aren't as filthy as some may claim? How much longer can we listen to every voice other than God's and still feel safe to assume that we're doing okay? How long can we take His freewill to mean the freedom to continue our flight toward filth? How long can we keep going before we realize that maybe all of this sinful stuff is really too good to be true?

How long can we assume that just because God lets us do something that it's the right thing to do?

My point is that God hasn't stopped being who He has always been. He's never wavered on His definitions of righteousness and truth nor His ability to punish those who disregard them. He has never stopped wanting more for us and from us, we made that choice all on our own. And while we may be completely okay with our choice to fall well short of His commands, we'd truly be fools to assume He's okay with it too.

This world is filled with fog, and not just the kind you see obscuring the trees off in the distance. This place is filled with the fog of sin that confuses our hearts and muddies our minds and leads us to living our lives only to satisfy our lower standards. It's a fog that easily convinces us that we're going the right direction without providing any assurances of such. It's a fog that countless people have followed all the way to the grave only to open their eyes once again to see themselves turned away from Heaven for having lived so long just sure they were doing okay.

Friends, God wants more than okay. He wants more than good enough. He asks us to do better than simply assuming our best is good enough and never going further or trying harder. He reached down for us through Christ. He came for us. He wants us. We have to want to be His. We have to reach out for Him. We have to listen to Him and stop paying so much attention to all these lies that tell us we don't need to.

If we don't stop, turn around, make some changes, and find a true urgency to hide ourselves within His mercy, we will end up perpetually lost in the fog of sin. This faith of ours not only desires and deserves our most sincere efforts, but it demands that we shake off the dust and step out of the dark and seek Christ with every ounce of our being. Because anything less than going all in will only mean that we fall short of finding the salvation that He came to offer.

The fog of sin makes it hard, nigh impossible. But as light streams in and things warm up, the fog lifts and we can see more clearly. He is the light my friends. He melts the ice around our hearts and helps clear the clouds of chaos from our eyes so that we can see more clearly. Reach for Him. Strive for Him. Listen to Him. Follow His voice through all this madness and He will get us home. But only if we seek Him first and stop living like we don't need that help.

We just can't settle for staying lost in the fog unable to realize that our salvation is nearer now than ever before as our Savior walks right past us, yet our sins have clouded our vision to where we don't even see Him standing there reaching out to lead us out of the chaos we've created.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold