Cruising

Last week’s post was about how we tend to fixate on our circumstances, and particularly the difficult ones (trials) in our journey of life, making them the focus of our efforts for change. Yet, God is focused on our hearts which are exposed by our responses to the circumstances which reveal where the real significant change is needed – in us.

To come to an understanding of the real issues of life in this way is an epiphany. Not only does it cause us to look at the trials of our lives totally differently, it also casts a totally different light on what we consider to be all of the ‘good things’ that we experience as well. How so? How we respond to the ‘good things’ in our lives is just as indicative of the quality of our heart attitudes, as how we respond to adversity. And the former may represent a much greater degree of danger for us. This should be made obvious to us by the fact that few men have ever really been destroyed by trials. But how many have shipwrecked by succumbing to the temptations of prosperity? When seen in this way, blessings also become a type of trial, and unless we are very careful, the ‘good things’ in life can become a snare to us and actually lead to our demise.

This is also addressed in God’s dealings with His OT people as they were preparing to enter the promised land. Have a look at the Scripture which follows immediately after the passage we considered in last week’s post:

“For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery … You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.”
Deuteronomy 8:7-20

You would do well to read that passage through again more slowly and carefully. Why? Because we (and I’m thinking Canada 2012) are the most privileged of people. Never has any people anywhere had what we have in terms of freedom and prosperity and blessing. I know we love to complain about what we don’t have, but that is just part of the ‘sickness’ of our hearts. The truth is that we are ‘filthy’ rich. And, yes, this is a test.

This is also a problem for believers in particular because God loves to bless His people. We follow after God and His teachings and the blessings follow as a natural consequence. Our lives get better and we find ourselves enjoying the ‘fruit of the land’. Then what?