by: Allen Domelle
Ezekiel 16:43
“Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.”
Since my childhood, dogs have always been a part of my life. It has not changed since I’ve been married. At the writing of this devotional, I have two dogs. My wife and daughter will tell you that I love those dogs and they love me. I have trained both of them, and they love spending time with me.
Oftentimes when I’m in the house and sitting on the couch, the older dog will either hop up on the couch and sit right next to me, or she will sit at my feet until I move. The younger dog seems to get a little jealous at times and will try to get in between so that she can be the closest. What she does is she puts her nose in between at first, and then she will begin to squeeze her body in until she pushes the older dog out of the way. If I allow her to continue, she will completely push the older dog away by squeezing in between.
This is exactly what God said Judah did. God says in the verse above, “Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things…” The word “fretted” means to rub out. In other words, They allowed things to squeeze between them and God until He was completely rubbed out of their lives. When you read the whole chapter, God tells how He took Judah from its infancy to becoming the beautiful and mighty nation that she became. But, she allowed the things that He blessed her with to come between them. She allowed all the blessings to squeeze between her and God to the point that He was completely rubbed out of their daily lives.
Christian, we must be careful that we don’t allow things to squeeze between God and us. The busier life gets, the easier it is to allow things to squeeze between us and our walk with God. Many Christians have allowed a work schedule to squeeze God out of their lives. Many Christians have allowed extra-curricular activities to nose their way into their lives until eventually they have squeezed God out. It happens so slowly and yet so quickly. Before you know it, you are too busy to keep your duties at the church and you start dropping them until you are out of church. Oh, how you have to be so careful not to be so focused on the blessings of God that they become your focus and not God. When those blessings become your focus, they will begin to squeeze God out of your life because of your desire to want more.
Moreover, sin will also squeeze it way into your life. Sin’s takeover of your life never happens all at one time. It happens with sin squeezing its nose into your life and then it will begin to push away your prayer and Bible study. Sin will begin to push your desire to go to church and serve God aside until those desires wane to the point that you no longer want them. It all starts with one little sin that you don’t take care of. It starts small and squeezes its way into your life until it controls you.
What has squeezed between you and God? Anything that has squeezed itself between you and God has become your idol. Your desire should be what the old song says, “Nothing between my soul and my Saviour, naught of this world’s delusive dream; I have renounced all sinful pleasure; Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.”