Imagine this scenario - The enemy is attacking and about to crush you to the ground; decay is setting in; God has withdrawn His presence and is holding back His blessings; He is even trying to awaken you, using adverse weather conditions; yet you are not getting the message - the message, that is - to quit sinning and start doing things His way. In fact, while facing His fiery indignation, all you can do is boast in your riches, abundance, and so-called success.  
 
Throughout the Scriptures, we find examples of people who were facing similar situations, yet they were unmoved, didn't consider, realize, or even take notice of what was happening all around them.
 
Repeatedly, we find variations of the same phrase, depicting their pitiful condition -

Let's examine each case and see what lesson the Holy Spirit would have for us today in our study.

* Judges 16:20 - "And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist(knew) not that the LORD was departed from him."
 
Samson possessed supernatural strength due to the Anointing of the Holy Spirit that was on his life.
Take away the Spirit of God from him, and he would be as another man.
 
He soon found that out one day. He played around with compromise and sin for too long. Little did he realize that things drastically changed in his life. He no longer was the Strong Man that he once was. The Lord had departed from him, leaving him weak and languished in body and soul.
 
How many Samson's are there today who are not aware of their spiritual loss? They continue to go through the motions of ministry, believing that God is blessing their efforts, never realizing that He had lifted His Anointing from their lives. Resultantly, they are too blind to notice that all they have going for them is a Flesh Show.
 
* Isaiah 42:25 - "Therefore He hath poured upon him the fury of His anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart."
 
Because Israel repeatedly broke God's laws, He, in turn, "poured" out His burning "anger" upon them through the violence of war, the destruction of their temple and city, and their being taken captive into a distant land. The desolation of war pictured them as one enveloped with flames. In fact, they were actually likened unto one trapped in a house on fire, being scorched with the flames and not even realizing their pain - "...set him on fire round about, yet he knew not..." .
 
God's fury was bring "poured upon" them, yet they didn't take it to heart; they were senseless and incorrigible under it all; they just couldn't understand the reason behind it all; they took no notice of the judgments of God; they refused to be awakened by His fiery rebukes; they never did get the message to change their ways; they simply didn't consider that all of this evil was inflicted upon them for their own crimes against the Almighty. 
 
O Reader, has God been trying to get your attention lately? Have you been experiencing "the fury of His anger"? Have you felt the "strength of battle" as the enemy of your soul - given place through your sin - has come into your home and ravaged what is precious to you? Are you like the man trapped in a house of flames and yet so senseless to the hurt and pain surrounding you? Do you "write off" the evil occurrences in your life as "bad luck"? Are you one who is guilty of "knowing not" or "laying not to heart" the severe rebukes of the Lord that are coming your way? Are you spiritually dull and insensitive to the calls of God to repent and change your ways?   
* Haggai 2:17 - "I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to Me, saith the LORD."
 
For their disobedience, God chastised the people by attacking the work of their own hands - their labor. Because they neglected His interests and were only concerned with their own, He brought judgments upon their work, hoping to bring them to repentance.

God "smote" their grain with two diseases - "blasting" and "mildew." Every green thing began to wither. The "hail" finished it off by battering it or breaking it after it had reached maturity.
 
Yet the people refused to see His hand in it all. They didn't see their sin as being highly offensive to a Holy God. Hence, they dismissed all of these happenings as chance and continued in their incorrigible and unhumbled state. 
 
Many are experiencing loss in their lives and wonder why. Are you one of them? Could it be that you have concerned yourself with your own agenda and totally neglected God's? Are you so busy building your house that you fail to build His? Are you consumed with your job that you fail to carry out His - which is to build His kingdom and win the lost? Are you missing the point that He's trying to get across to you?
 
* Hosea 7:9 - "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not."
 
Israel, because of his sin, was likened unto an old man whose strength was abating and whose hair was graying, yet he never noticed the change.

Yet this is how the Prophet Hosea depicted a people who were under the swift judgment of Almighty God and "knew it not."

Foreigners like Pil and Tilgath-pilesar - captains of enemy armies - "devoured his strength" through wars. Whether through open wars or false peace treaties, enemy nations ravaged Israel of their wealth and treasures and lessened their numbers.

What about you? Are you in a spiritual state of decay and decline and "knoweth it not"?
Are you one who goes to church as always, involved in all kinds of programs and ministries, yet you have no "strength" - no power - to face temptation and live holily for the Lord?
 
You used to be on-fire for Jesus, but others have convinced you to "calm down" a bit.
Now, you are left with spiritual "gray hairs" and "knoweth it not..." that you have lost out with God.  
* Luke 19:44 - "And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."
 
The Messiah had come, yet Israel would not know it. They rejected His offers of peace and grace. Their day of opportunity arrived, but they didn't improve on it. They ignored His gracious offers of mercy. It was their "time of...visitation" when He manifested His invaluable blessings toward them, yet they missed it. 

In 70 A.D., Titus, a Roman General, encircled their city with a wall - made of earth, stones, and wood. He then attacked, literally crushing them to the ground, not leaving "one stone upon another."
 
It is reported that he actually caused a plow to pass over the place where the temple once stood, bringing to pass the saying - "And shall lay thee even with the ground..."
 
This all happened simply because  the people "knewest not" the time of their visitation. They rejected  God's gracious Gift to them in His Only Begotten Son - their Messiah. 
 
What about you, O Reader? Has God given you opportunity after opportunity to repent and receive His gracious gift of salvation and yet you've refused?

Read this example and fear. Just as He shut the door - at the time - to the Jews who rejected the Messiah, even so will He do the same for you. The only thing left to face will be destruction and woe.
 
* Revelation 3:16-17 - "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
 
Here was a church that was slothful, careless, indifferent, and undecided toward the things of God. They were "lukewarm" - totally disgusting and loathsome in His sight. Yet they had high thoughts about themselves. They imagined that - because they were wealthy and prosperous - He was well pleased with them.

They said - "...I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing..."

They didn't realize - as is often the case - that their great wealth caused them to become "lukewarm," complacent, and self-satisfied to the point where they didn't see a need to continuously seek the Lord for more and more spiritual blessings. They had "need of nothing." At least, that is what they thought!
 
"...and knowest not..." - Their true state was that they were miserable, depleted of all spiritual riches and holiness of heart, blinded to their true spiritual condition, and totally devoid of the covering of the image of God or His garments of righteousness, holiness, and purity.
 
And what about you, O Reader? Do you perceive yourself as being super-spiritual because you have wealth and are presently enjoying the "blessings of the Lord" in your life? Now that you are enjoying  abundance, have you backed off in prayer and fasting and the reading of the Bible? Has your great wealth filled your life with so many more activities which leave no time for God? Have you allowed pride to deceive you into thinking that, because you now have abundance, you really don't need to seek the Lord as those who are facing great lack?  
 
Can there be a more pitiful situation than to be a people whom God is loudly calling to - yet they cannot hear? What could possibly be worse than one whom God is judging for their sinful ways, yet they see it not nor understand what's going on? How humiliating to be one who is bragging about having great spiritual wealth, yet, in God's sight, is nothing more than a miserable pauper.
 
Oh! That God would give us discernment to see, hear, and understand what He is saying to us today.
May none - reading this message - be accused of being under the judgment or chastisement of Almighty God, yet understanding it not.

Connie