Monday, April 9, 2012

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?

5 comments:

  1. Give back to God of course. As he blesses us so out of thankfulness we give back to him or bless others in HIS name.

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  2. Buck, I have long thought that serious giving is one of the best protections we have against becoming ungrateful ... thanks for your comment. Right on.

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  3. Wow Steve, your really keen on flipin things around eh? I havent thought on the flip side of trials! And yeah who has ever been totally destroyed by trials? They make us stronger and cultivate character. North America is filthy rich and have we handled it well? There will be a reckoning for forgetting that God has provided the blessings we take for granted every day.

    How can we even pray "Father give us this day our daily bread" when our freezers provide enough bread for months! I know some people who have so much in thier freezers that they haven't even seen the bottom in years lol! Do these people think about their neighbours, widows & orphans who open their empty freezer asking God to provide food for the day?

    We hoard our blessings rather than share them, we use our time to sastisfy our own desires rather than spending time on behalf of another.

    Has America become like Sodom and Gomorrah? Full of pride, forgetting the Lord, lawless, uncharitable, greedy & selfish, lusting after other flesh & doing whats right in our their own eyes!

    Will He find any righteous here in this land of blessing?

    How do we remember our deep need for God when we think we have everything we need?

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  4. Everything you say is true Rachael but I thank God for the faithful remnant of people that give and serve and give thanks to God. And I am thankful that you are one of them.

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  5. Thanks Steve:) I thank God too for His faithful people and that we are declared righteous because of Christ!

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