Do the challenges in your life make you desperate for God? Do they cause you to evaluate what is really important? And do you turn to Him in the midst of rising inflation, heart-breaking news stories, and financial and cultural issues? Or do you spend your time complaining and focused on worldly solutions? I have to ask myself the same questions.
If the latter is true, could many years of prosperity and comfort have infected us with a deadly disease? Jon Bloom describes this disease as “spiritual leprosy, damaging spiritual nerve endings so that we don’t feel the erosion and decay happening until it’s too late.” Has it robbed us of our thirst for God and replaced it with a taste for the things of this world? Did it deaden us to the realization that we are desperate for Him? Could it even have revealed something much more serious? If so, what can and should we do now?
Today’s Readings:
Joshua 3 & 4
Psalm 42.1-5
Proverbs 13.17-18
Luke 9.1-17
Life’s Challenges & Desperation for God
Psalm 42.1-5:
Deadly to Our Faith
Several years ago I came across this post by Jon Bloom on the Desiring God website, God Make Us Desperate . As I thought about it this morning, I wondered, what if anything has changed? Here is an excerpt:
American Christians live in the most prosperous nation in world history and the one in which it costs the least to be a Christian.
This environment can be deadly to faith. It allows false faith to masquerade as real very easily. And its power to dissipate zeal and energy and mission-focus and willingness to risk is extraordinary because it doesn’t come to us with a whip and a threat. It comes to us with a pillow and a promise of comfort for us and our children. The former makes us desperate for God. The latter robs our sense of desperation.
And it’s the lack of a sense of desperation for God that is so deadly. If we don’t feel desperate for God, we don’t tend to cry out to him. Love for this present world sets in subtly, like a spiritual leprosy, damaging spiritual nerve endings so that we don’t feel the erosion and decay happening until it’s too late.
A number of his points continue to concern me.
Weak or False Faith
A friend and I were talking some time ago about the long-lasting effects of church shut-downs. We recognized how easy it was to get up a little later, enjoy leisurely Sunday mornings, drink our coffee, and watch church in our pajamas.
We both love the Lord and want to serve Him but recognized how easy it might have been to stay there. If that’s true of two people who have been deeply involved in ministry, how much truer has it been for baby Christians or for those whose faith is not genuine?
Jesus said:
21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matt. 7.21-23).
These are people who had been doing religious things, even though they had no genuine relationship with Christ.
If somewhere along the line, you have lost your desire to go back to church in person, whether after COVID or just in general, I want to encourage you to talk to God. Don’t believe the lie that we don’t need church to be a Christian. There may be an element of truth to that, but the lack of desire may be God’s way of showing you something else.
The writer of Hebrews said to not forsake the gathering of ourselves together (Heb. 10.25). Watching church online is not the same as being a part of a biblical church where we go, make ourselves accountable, and serve others.
If any of this describes you, pray and ask God for wisdom. If you have any reason to doubt the genuineness of your faith, read and study the little book of 1 John. It gives us a clear picture of what genuine faith looks like. You might also want to read this post and watch the video.
Not Desperate for God
For others of us, could we have lost our sense of desperation for God. As Mr. Bloom said, “If we don’t feel desperate for God, we don’t tend to cry out to him.” And the truth is we are desperate for God.
In his book, Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges points out that one of those respectable sins is ungodliness. He explains that ungodliness is not the same as wickedness, rather it’s a lack of awareness that we live 24/7 in the presence of God. It’s losing sight of our dependence on Him. It’s subtly (and not so subtly) depending on ourselves.
If we have not grown closer to God over the last few years and more acutely aware of our need for Him, perhaps we need to cry out as David did:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me (Ps. 51.10).
None of us knows what the coming years will bring. But the signs point to growing opposition to biblical faith and godly living. Weak, anemic faith is not going to cut it. If we don’t remain strong in the Lord, it won’t be easy to do it in the heat of battle without suffering serious losses.
Prayer that is Desperate for God
If we realize we are not where we need to be with God, what is the answer? Again, quoting Jon Bloom:
So we must fast and pray for and support the suffering church in the diseases that can set in from harsh adversity. But we must also fast and pray for God to deliver us from the diseases that set in from prosperity. We need him. We can discipline ourselves in various ways. But we cannot manufacture our own desperation. Only God can make us desperate for him.
So God, whatever it takes, increase our awareness of our dependence on you in everything! Keep us desperate for you so that the deceitfulness of sin does not harden our hearts (Hebrews 3:13). In Jesus’ name, amen.
Perhaps, we all need to pray that kind of prayer, even now. It’s not too late. Let’s pray to be more like the psalmist in today’s reading who said:
As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God (v. 1).
Today’s Other Readings:
Joshua 3 & 4:
Keep Your Eyes on Him
The Nation of Israel was about to enter the Promised Land by crossing over the Jordan River. As they went, they were to keep their eyes on the ark, which represented the presence of God. Once again God would supernaturally allow them to cross over on dry land.
We, too, are to keep our eyes on God, trusting Him to lead us and guide us through the difficulties and battles of life.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you (Is. 43.2).
Perhaps the events of the past few years and the storm clouds on the horizon are, in part, a reminder of that need.
Proverbs 13.17-18:
What Kind of Ambassador Are You Right Now?
A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful ambassador brings health (v. 17).
This is especially true of God’s messengers or ambassadors. When a man or woman pretends to represent God and does evil he or she can do great harm. On the other hand, a faithful ambassador of God brings spiritual health.
2 Corinthians 5.20 says:
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Every day we have opportunities to demonstrate our trust in God and to share the reason.
Luke 9.1-17:
Little in the Hands of God
Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them (vv. 16-17).
Little in the hands of God is enough. No matter how “little” our talents, our gifts, our resources, God is well able to use them for our good and His glory!
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll talk about how faith can be risky, parenting from the foot of the cross, how we can be too busy and distracted, viewing all of life through the lens of Scripture, and how our thinking affects our emotions.
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss any of them. If this post spoke to you, I would so appreciate it if you would share it on your favorite social media platform.
If you would like to receive a FREE downloadable and printable Bible study through the book of Mark, you can click here for more information.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
* Photo by Julia M. Cameron on Pexels.
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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