Complacent & Casual Faith
Bixby, Oklahoma: The Lord exhibits his goodness through avenues that one may disregard because they come from an unfamiliar place. I am a witness of this goodness and daily I marvel at God’s consistency in delivering as per his promises. Have you ever been at a place where you exhausted all channels of problem solving as you know them and finally decided to leave everything in the hands of God? I found it funny that as a servant of the Lord the mentality of trying all other things becomes the first instinct when there is trouble. The first instinct should be laying things in the hands of God followed by exhausting all other channels.
Even when one remembers to pray to God in the time of trouble it tends to be the type of casual prayer that in my analysis wouldn’t even kill a fly. I’m not sure whether it’s over confidence, pride or a disregard of principle. I guess as Christians we have gotten to a place of complacency and familiarity with who God is such that we think we can do as we please without necessarily seeking for the divine. Note that I am not saying God should not be our friend, but I am thinking how many times have we missed an opportunity to understand who God is in times of serious need? I believe sometimes when he allows trouble to come it is an opportunity for us to draw close to him seeking his intervention in our situation.
Instead of whining and complaining that he shouldn’t have allowed it, we should be seeking to understand him in his fullness in context of the situation. When I meditated on the scriptures these past couple of days, my heart went to Psalms 91 ” no evil shall come nigh they dwelling place” but then I thought what if the situation is God ordained. How do I react to it? But then its easy to say the devil is after my life rather than looking up into the eyes of God. I asked myself what about asking “Lord what are you saying to me through this situation?” This is not easy and it calls for sensitivity not casualty. A casual heart will take things at face value, but a sensitive heart will say, “my heart is at the right place, but why is this happening to me, and seek the face of God”.
Are you saying this should be the norm? That’s exactly what I am saying, because that is what I learnt this past week. God will bring answers from unfamiliar places. In our complacency and casualty we miss the move of God. The goodness of the Lord surrounds us always. He has good plans for us and plans to prosper us and to give us an expected end. If we do as we please we tend to miss the plan and miss the blessing of knowing we are not in control at all.
The week before Christmas taught me that he has my life wrapped in the palm of his hands and he will not disgrace me at all. In my whole Christian life I have never spent so much time addressing and commanding angels reminding them that they are “ministering spirits” and I am “a flame of fire”. In the process of commanding and reminding I started asking myself where my heart was in terms of trusting and believing the very word I was quoting. But I’m grateful I serve Jehovah God who watches over his word to see it fulfilled, whose eyes run to and fro the face of the earth guarding and watching over his word. I made a vow that no longer will I be “complacent and casual when it comes to his promises”.
Faith is a now issue – I have learnt that in my walk of faith I need to constantly search myself through the heart of God and his word. But I am grateful that he knows me in and out, such that he demands from me as I also make demands according to his promises. Praise you Lord!
