Heart Tracks - High Places

"Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instruction given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places." I Kings 3:3

The other day the Holy Spirit confronted me, as He always does, with a direct hit upon my heart. I had been simmering in frustration over a few things, to the point that I was expending a lot of energy and attention to the problem. Now, I know where all of that can lead; a loss of peace and joy, and a void as to sensing His presence. I know the cost of allowing frustration, worry, fear, or any harmful attitude or feeling to have place in my mind and heart. But what He spoke to me, in His as always gentle whisper, was that I had allowed the problem to become a "high place" in my life. In effect, I was "offering sacrifice and burning incense" to something that was being allowed to have more of my attention and focus than Him. Just like Solomon.

High places in the Old Testament, were sites, established by the peoples whom the Israelites displaced in His promised land, that were given over to the worship of "other gods." Gods who, the Father Himself said, were not gods at all. Yet these high places remained a snare to the people throughout their history prior to the Babylonian captivity. Though the people continued to worship Jehovah God, they also added the worship of these "gods" of the high places. A practice that led to their eventual destruction and captivity. It also led to Solomon's own eventual downfall. It will surely lead to ours as well. We ask "How? We have no such sites. We offer no such sacrifice and incense." Not literally perhaps, but we do nonetheless. I have. I did. So have you.

Whatever we allow to take our hearts and minds away from being centered on Him becomes to us a high place. Anxiety, fear, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, and pride, certainly fit that description. But so do goals, desires, success, comfort, and the pursuit of what we call "the American Dream." All of these and more end up pointing our hearts to that which is not Him. We are in a sense worshiping, offering sacrifice (of our time, emotions, attentions and heart) and burning incense (our devotion) to something or someone other than Him. That may not be our intention, but it's our result even so. Solomon very likely never intended to have his heart drawn away from the Father. It all started as something that he hoped to appease his foreign wives with, but the end was the same. Though he never lost His love, he did lose the fullness of His presence and power. It was his ruin. It will be ours as well.

John Wesley said that anything that pulled our hearts away from Him, "that thing to you is sin." Strong words. True ones as well.
Do we just disregard them, because after all, we live under grace, not law. So did Wesley....If God so despised the high places that He ordered the people to destroy them all, would He despise them any less today? Neither the kings or the people could ever completely bring themselves to do this. To some extent, they remained, and always to their harm. This is why he hates them so. They, and the false "god" they represent always bring us harm. They have to be torn down. Will we have them come down?

In the midst of His confrontation with me, there was no condemnation, but His message is clear. The high places must be brought down.....voluntarily by my will to have it so, and supernaturally by His grace and power to do so. I want no high places, and I want the ones that do exist, usually in disguise, exposed and removed. I don't want my heart to belong to anyone but Him, not even in some small part. Some of them go harder than others, but they must go. How about you? Where are the high places you've been hanging around? To what have you offered sacrifice and incense? Will they come down?

Blessings,
Pastor O