Today's Devotional

October 13, 2005

Subject:  Getting Back To Normal - That Could Be A Bad Thing! 

2 Peter 2:20 - "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning."

2 Peter 2:22 - "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."

I read in the news how much money was being lost in the gambling industry due to the recent hurricane disasters in New Orleans and the neighboring Louisiana and Mississippi communities along the Gulf Coast.  Previous law only allowed for offshore casinos in this area and they were particularly being hard hit because they are usually housed in makeshift boating or shipping vessels.  However they are being innovative and trying their best to come up with new solutions to get their gambling and gaming back on track.  One option is for them to attempt to get lawmakers to allow for the building of inland casinos.  They are pressing on many fronts to make this happen so that they can get back to their gambling, i.e. making lots of money.

It's great for communities to rebuild and for people to attempt to get their lives and livelihoods back to normal, but in some cases, that's a bad thing and the gambling industry is one of those cases.

Perhaps some have considered the message that a holy and righteous God might be sending.  As many people were spared their lives, perhaps their biggest concern shouldn't be to consider how they can continue to amass material wealth and fortunes.  Perhaps that was part of God's purpose in the destruction, to allow people to get past the "stuff" and get back to Him.  However, as the scripture says above, so often the "dog returns to his own vomit."  That's an ill-sounding description, but that's what you have after God has cleaned out the trash in your life and you go back to "normal."

Today we pray for the restoration of people's lives in the hurricane-damaged areas, but don't go back to normal when God wants to take you to extraordinary.   We are the children of God and not dogs and pigs.  He desires much better for us and He Himself is able to provide it if we stay out of the mud.   

Carlen