Idleness

The Devil Rides on an Idle Horse.

“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good”. Ezekiel 16: 49-50 AKJV

In the Bible, the phrase “growing fat” is a warning about forgetting God. When people get rich, full, and comfortable, they often forget God. They become proud and stop listening to His voice. They think their bank account, big house, boat and luxuries were because of their hard work, and they deserve to rest up and take it easy. They deserve to go on extended vacations and forget about doing God’s work in the church. They wasted the blessings that God gave them and took credit for it all themselves. They say to themselves and to others, “Look what I have done”.  

Growing “fat” in biblical terms is not about waist size.  Even though that is a problem and a sin also spoken about in the bible. “Fat” here is about getting comfortable, content, and a sense of peace in your daily life that makes you forget about needing God. 

Satan loves this stage of anyone’s life.  This led the men of Sodom to doing detestable things that were an abomination before the Lord. The Devil will ride in on that idol, content and happy horse.  He knows just what to tempt you with that will make you feel good in the present moment. Lust for another partner, lust for too much alcohol, lust for a drug, lust for pornography, lust for a TV program or news show that will distract you from God. Satan will use anything to get you addicted to that feeling of contentment and happiness. The devil knows that if he gives you an adrenaline surge and short-term enjoyment for doing something, you will be back for more. The men of Sodom started to enjoy the feeling of doing the detestable thing. This feeling made them forget that the action was detestable.  They soon forgot the Lord.

Key Warning Passages

Deuteronomy 31:20: God warns that once He brings Israel into a rich land and they eat well and grow fat, they will turn away to serve other gods. They will break His covenant.

Deuteronomy 32:15: Israel (called Jeshurun here) grew fat, thick, and gorged. They abandoned God and turned away from the Rock of their salvation.

Hosea 13:6: When they had pasture, they were satisfied. When they were satisfied, they became proud. Because of this pride, God says He forgot them.

This is the main reason that there are so many bible verses and instructions from God to consider it pure joy when you face trials, pain, suffering, depression, death.  Why does God cause or allow any trials to come your way? Why should you be praising God when these things happen?

Because He loves you!

He knows that you are in danger of forgetting about Him. He needs to wake you up so that you will return to Him.

God Loves you too much just to let you go down the wrong pathway. 

Turn to God and ask Him what He is trying to teach you when trials of many kinds come your way. God is always faithful and true and always has plans for you. 

You must be born again and completely transformed. Which may require pain and suffering to let go of control and surrender it all to Him.

Remember it is not a religion, it is a relationship.

Prayers and Love to all.

Larry