I collected baseball cards in the late 80’s
and early 90’s. It quickly turned from a
harmless hobby to an obsession, an addiction, a problem. While some struggled with drugs, gambling, or
alcohol, I was abusing small pieces of cardboard with pictures on them. Any money I could scrounge up went to buying
more. I’d meet new friends and ask,
“Pssst. Baseball cards? You got cards, man? Need some cards!” And if they did we’d trade. The goal was to find things you didn’t have
while trading something you had too many of.
One day I finally counted all my cards.
The total passed 9,000 (I told you I had a problem).
Down the street there lived a boy that Mom
didn’t want me hanging out with. When he
came around, he brought trouble. You
remember that kid, right? No? It’s probably because you were that kid;)
One day, “bad kid” came by and Mom wasn’t
home. “You want to hang out?” he
asked. “Sure!” I responded. “You got cards?” he asked. “Sure!” I responded. He pulled out a box and proceeded to convince
me why I needed the cards he had, “You need this card. You don’t have it. I really shouldn’t be parting with it. It will be valuable in the future. But if you give me that one card of yours
I’ll give you these five. One being this
favorite card of mine that I shouldn’t really part with. But I like you and I think this card will
look good in your collection.” What card
did he want from me? My most valuable
card, a Ken Griffey Jr rookie card. Did
I trade it? Yes. What did I get for it? Five worthless cards. I was tricked into trading something valuable
for something worthless.
Satan hates God. And the #1 way he tries to hurt Him is by
tricking God’s children into trading God for a false god. The One you need for something you
don’t. The Essential for the
useless. The Answer for the problem.
I came across this
story in my devotions this morning:
2 Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his
upper room in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said to them,
“Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover
from this injury.” 3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to
meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you
are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ 4 Now therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not come down from the bed to which you
have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah departed. 2
Kings 1:2-4 (NKJV)
The King of Samaria fell and seriously injured himself. So instead of turning to the true God of
Heaven for answers, he inquires of this Philistine false god. Perhaps the king believed in God but lived as
if there was no God in Israel. I’ve
heard a phrase that perfectly describes this:
Practical Atheists. People who
“believe in God” yet fail to turn to Him when need arise. They say they trust him but live like there’s
no God when it’s time to trust Him. They
trade the REAL God for a fake one. Ahaziah
didn’t turn to the REAL God for help. So,
he didn’t get REAL help.
Don’t fall for the enemy’s oldest trick—duping you into pursuing something
broken instead of the Fixer, chasing after something that will wound you
instead of the One who heals you, inviting in the thief instead of welcoming the
Blesser.
In the book of Jeremiah, God calls us out with these words:
"My people have committed two
sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own
cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV)
So, which satisfies? A spring of living water or a muddy
puddle? Perhaps you know the answer to
that question all too well. You’ve been
trying to quench that thirst at the muddy puddle of your making. I want to encourage you—Don’t forsake Him any
longer. A bad trade can be remedied when
it comes to your walk with God. Confess. Turn around. Pursue God.
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