The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right.
-2 Kings 17:9a

I’m not a mind reader.  But I’ve thought about it. 🙂

I think it would be fun for about two minutes.  I mean, who wouldn’t want a chance to crawl around in somebody else’s brain?

But then… you’d start picking up everybody around you…

“I just stole $300, and nobody even knows it’s missing.”
-or
“I wonder what she looks like au natural?”
-or
“Can people tell I’m on meth?”
-or
“Sometimes I wish my dad would just drop dead.”
-or
“I’ve got everybody fooled that I’m a nice guy.  I’m not.”
-or
“I wonder if he suspects I’m having an affair?”
-or
“I’ve been shortchanging my employees for years.”

Okay, not every thought in every head is a sinful one, like these are.  Some of us may be filled with wholesomeness and butterflies.  (If you come across somebody with a mind like that, you’ll want to get close to them!) Many of us have our share of secret sin.  Notions we wouldn’t even want our best friend to know about.

Wait…have you been thinking you’re the only one? Heavens, no!  It happens all the time.  Indeed, today’s verse from 2 Kings comes at a time when the Israelites have blown it big time.  Their secret deeds have stacked the deck against them, and this whole group of  people are sent into exile.

The moral is pretty simple:  There are no secrets from God, and sin leads to exile.  Honestly, those Israelites weren’t just being punished by God, they had brought it upon themselves.  Sin, by its nature, creates separation between us and God.  It’s the worst consequence of sin, and we bring exile upon ourselves.

If that were the end of the story, you and I would have long since withered away.  Luckily for us, God IS a mind reader, and knows our faults, and guides us to ask for forgiveness, and regeneration, and the power of Grace.

Luckily for us, there is a future after exile.  We may not always be able to sense what it is, but as we learn to be faithful, we learn to walk healthier paths.

We learn to be more concerned about the contents of our own minds, rather than our neighbor’s.  Ultimately, we learn to take on the mind of Christ.

You’ll be happy to know that I have no idea what’s on your mind.  Unless you feel like telling me, I’ll never know those things you’re keeping to yourself.  And unless you’re willing to be open-minded with God, who already knows all about you, your sense of exile may only expand.

The Israelites went to Assyria…

Who knows?  You could end up in a situation

just as Assyrious.

Have a great week,

Mitch

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