Daily Devotional

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Loss of Personal Awareness

You might have a little flicker in your lamp right now, but how full is your vessel? How much do you have in reserve? Not at your best, not five years ago or five months ago--what do you have right at this moment in supply to be about Father's business? This parable is all about momentary, immediate sufficiency.

We see in the parable how they all slumbered. They were occupying until the Lord came. We're busy about Father's business. We're busy caring for the necessities and mundane things of life, but at any moment the trumpet is going to sound. At any moment, the cry will go forth, "The bridegroom cometh!" At any moment, the words of Revelation are going to echo through the spiritual heavens, "Come up hither." Think about it. Those that are prepared will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:51-52). Think about it. In a moment caught up, the Scripture says, to be with Him. Or will we be weighted down with the sins and weights that do so easily beset us?

Satan is subtle to lie to you that you're the exception. You may say, "Nobody else is as busy as I am. Nobody else has sickness in their family. Nobody else has financial lack. Nobody else has to drive in the traffic of metropolitan Washington." Satan is constantly bombarding, saying, "God doesn't care. God is not fair. You're the only one that doesn't get to partake of all of the bountiful blessings, so you need to take care of yourself." That lie is the original and constant accusation of man against God. In our watchfulness today we need to make this one determination: does the Judge of all the earth do right? Is God good, and what is my worth without Him?

The mistake of the five foolish was that they were living off their past preparation. They knew where to get oil. At one time they had sufficient oil, but they counted the presence of God common. Many of us take the presence of God for granted. We take for granted the community of believers around us. We take for granted parents that give us godly counsel. We despise the counsel and the pressure that's put upon us. We despise the course of the straight and narrow that we're being admonished to walk in, forgetting that it's a privilege to partake of these good things of God.

In despising the preparation, the five foolish were ill prepared when the Lord came. "...Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out" (Matt. 25:8). What causes a man's lamp to go out at a time such as this? I Timothy says it's being lovers of pleasure, lovers of self-ease. It's the overemphasis of individual worth, thinking you have a right to kick back, a right to this abundance, a right to this amusement.

Do you know what it means to muse? Musing--spending time dwelling, waiting, meditating, observing--is a discipline. Musing is being quiet to draw upon the presence of God, to listen to the still, small voice, and to know the condition of your own heart. In contrast to musing, we have "amusement." Amusement replaces musing, the discipline of meditation. Keep the music playing and the party hopping so you don't have to deal with who you really are. You don't want to hear that voice which reveals the real condition of life, so let the party continue. Let the amusements become more diversified and more appealing to your senses. Raise the decibels; bring on the strobe lights. If we're going to watch, it's going to be a discipline.

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