From the “3 Minutes Alone with God” devotional Series .

“I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.” Leviticus 26:12-13

God gave the nation of Israel some options to live by in this chapter. He said follow my rules and you can have a really nice life. Don’t follow my rules and you will really suffer. Hum, that seems to me like a no brainer. The first thirteen verses speak of the good things God would do for them if they just obeyed. They are followed by thirty- two verses of punishment if they didn’t. Their disobedience could result in things like, “you’ll go hungry”, “you’ll die of diseases”, “you’ll lose your freedom”, “you will live in fear even when there is nothing to fear” and the list goes on!

When you read something like this and see how the nation of Israel acted, have you ever wondered, “what in the world is wrong with them?” Well. . . , I have to throw a “BUT” in here. I hate hearing a “but”, especially when it’s going to affect me.

But. . . I think about my own life and all the things I have done which haven’t pleased the Lord. The times I have blatantly sinned against God when someone could have been looking my way making the same comment, “what is wrong with him?”

Living in this ungodly society, it is much easier for us to live in sin than to do what God wants us to do. It is also much easier to please ourselves than it is to please God. We can decide to make up our minds to not disappoint the Lord, but that alone won’t do it. It takes the Power of the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to walk the line because we are no match for the devil all by ourselves.

Lord, sometimes we step back and wonder why we do stupid things so often which require your forgiveness. Then we realize how thankful we are for your limitless grace.

The “3 Minutes Alone with God” devotional Books by Robin McKinley along with all his books are available at /www.amazon.com/author/rmckinley