“You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.'” Isaiah 47:10
Driving down the highway, I found myself sitting at a red-light right behind a pest control truck. I was thinking of something else in my head when that process got interrupted by the slogan on the truck. As the light turned green, my head was spinning with questions.
The slogan was 100% conceivably true. It said, “Mosquitoes bite – we can stop them!” But as my mind wandered, I couldn’t stop the mental images running through my mind. A mosquito tied to a little chair as a bug guy cuts off its stinger! A bug guy following a customer with a swatter and smashing a mosquito as it lands, was another! As more crazy ideas came to mind, I couldn’t see how a company could make any profit from such a claim… unless!
When it comes to sales, fear can be used as a big motivator. A mother seeing her little baby with mosquito bites might be motivated to hire a company to prevent a repeat of that scenario. But the ‘can’ claim alone is no guarantee! Every time I swat a mosquito, I stop the bite! Placing a bug on a red block and smashing it with a blue one can make the same claim. But while true, it is far from a practical guarantee.
God used the Babylonian empire to punish the Israelites as they turned from faith in Him to other gods. They had been warned! But arrogance provided a false sense of security, as Babylon demolished Israel, SHE started to feel high and mighty and began to do the ‘look at me’ strut! Then God’s warning shifted to HER evil hearts and history repeated itself. Babylon fell!
The dangers of thinking,”nothing bad has happened yet,” “I haven’t gotten caught before,“ or “it really doesn’t matter,” can lure my mind into a false sense of security. The Bible warns, “While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3). History and God’s Word give many examples over thousands of years of the dangers of believing the an unbelievable lie.
I am and do what I believe to be true! I need to be careful! Because sometimes I can even con myself into believing the unbelievable. How about you?
