My  morning devotion spoke to me today and so I am sharing my thoughts with you. When God was first laying down the foundational rules in Exodus, he told the people he was a jealous God and to worship no other God’s but him.

In today’s world, we often sugar coat the gentleness and kindness of God and forget his powerful being – the ultimate rule maker, the mighty Father. We don’t want to believe he will ever punish us, we don’t want him being something we fear because fear is a negative aspect. God is never negative, right? Do you read the same old testament that I read? How many people were killed by the command of God. Why would you worship a being that does that? Be cause he loves me! And people forget that and lose his love.

When Joshua first invaded Canaan, the first town on agenda for God was Jericho. Jericho, who many many generations ago, forgot who God was now going to be punished for forgetting. So God tells the people to walk around the walled city and then come back to camp. The people – the entire nation of Israel – just walking around the massively walled city. So let’s think about that a minute. You are an Israelite, and God says you will conquer the land. How is walking around the city conquering the land. I am sure there were some in that group that were think, “what? is this how we are conquering?” And I am sure the people of Jericho, who were originally shaking in their boots with fear hearing all the stories of the Red Sea parting and the destruction of the Egyptian army, were wondering “what is this, why are we scared of this?” Evidently none of them knew the song called Trust and Obey.

Then on the 7th day, the walls miraculously just fell down. Walls that had been standing as a fortress for hundreds of year…just fell. And all the people of Jericho, all the people, were killed. Trust and Obey, for there is no other way….

In Sarah Young’s devotional  Jesus Calling for July 11, she reminded us that today’s false gods are out of the realm of religion. Those of us who are practicing the Christian religion have a tendency to get complacent, especially here in the US. And sometimes that complacency can turn us to worshiping other things than God. Oh, it was not our intention and there may not be a physical thing we have set up in our home we bow down to, but any thing that gets in the way of our worship of God can easily become an idle; our jobs, more money, and a big one is our TIME.

24 hours in a day x 7 days = 168 hours, 168 hours in a week x 52 weeks = 8736 hours, 52 Sundays x 1 hour = 52 hours. Not sure 52 hours out of 8736 hours show a good representation of loving our God. How many hours do you spend with your friends doing fun stuff. If you spend an average of 5 hours a week doing fun stuff that is 260 hours, you see where I am going here. God does not want you to not enjoy going and doing fun  stuff. He created a lot of fun stuff for you to do. He just wants to go with you. He wants to be part of your everyday, to share your highs, not just coming when the moments are low.

So as you go about your day, everyday, ask Him to come along smile with him at the funny ‘coincidences’ that seem to happen and realize – “I know that was You God.” And as you smile with him, remember to be kind like him.