Devotion

The Battle We’ll Always Lose

by Greg Laurie on Aug 16, 2023
LORD, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
—Isaiah 26:8
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Vance Havner wrote, “You can’t break the law of God. Nobody ever broke the law of God. You break yourself against the law of God.

He was right. We cannot break the law of God, but we will break ourselves against it.

How we need God’s commandments today, and how we need to follow them. We can either accept the truths of His commands or fight against them and reap the inevitable results. It’s our choice: we can do it the easy way or the hard way.

We can buck against God’s truths, say they don’t apply to us, and live the way that we want to live. Or, we can see God’s wisdom in giving us His commandments.

In the Old Testament we read about King Solomon, who went on a sinful binge. He rebelled against the truth he had learned from God and decided to sample just about everything the world had to offer.

And having almost unlimited resources, Solomon could build any building he wanted, have any woman his heart desired, and experience any pleasure he chose to experience. Yet after he did all the things that he wanted to do, he said that it was all emptiness, like chasing the wind.

He wrote, “Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NLT). Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was saying, “Here’s what I’ve learned in life. Don’t fight against the laws of God. They were given to us for a reason.”

Someone might say, “Well, Solomon didn’t know what he was talking about. I’ll find out for myself.” You can go ahead and find out for yourself, of course, but it is much easier to do it God’s way.

In His commandments, God has given us the blueprint for a fulfilled life. He has given us the blueprint for happiness.


Dennis J. Hester, ed., When God Breaks Through: Sermons on Revival by Vance Havner (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2003), 42.


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