The Most Certain Of All Laws

I Samuel 2:30

The Lord God declares, "Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed!" Sooner or later, God will reward all men according to this rule of infallible justice.

In light of that fact we would be wise to judge ourselves, that we be not judged with the world. Many a man whose life and family have been plagued with constant sorrow and grief could, if he would, trace the bitter stream of woe back to the fact that he simply has not honored God. The sin that is hidden from human eyes is the cause of the sorrow that is evident to all.

This is a law that will never be broken. If we honor God he will honor us; and if we despise him we shall be lightly esteemed. Without question, this law is written concerning those who are true believers but fail to honor God. Eli was a true believer, a righteous man. He judged Israel for forty years. "His heart trembled for the ark of God." Yet, he failed to honor God in the matter of his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, and he suffered the consequences of it in his family. God killed both his sons and put his family out of the priesthood forever! Lot was a righteous man, but he failed to honor God, and he suffered the consequences in his family. God killed his wife and all his family, except for two daughters, when he destroyed Sodom. And those two daughters who escaped with him to Zoar brought him to utter shame. His entire family became a race of reprobates! David was a man after God's own heart, but he failed to honor God in the matter of Uriah. Though God forgave his sin and refused to impute it against him, still he suffered the consequences of his sin in his family. God himself declares that he visits "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation" (Ex. 34:7). Why? Because he has sworn, "Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

There is no middle ground between honoring God and despising him. If God is not honored, something else is honored above him and God is despised. Either we honor God or we despise him in all our actions. God demands that we honor him. He will not tolerate any rival in the affections of his children. HONOR GOD! MAKE THIS ALONE THE BUSINESS OF YOUR LIFE! HONOR GOD!

Don Fortner