Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Aware Of God's Presence

When days are good and times are trouble-free, we often forget that God is present in our lives and protecting us from possible tragedies. This seems to be a very real fact of history - for individuals and nations.

The children of Israel believed in God. They were aware of His goodness and grace, presence and power, and had experienced them on many occasions. But, they often left Him out of their plans - as we often do.  Then, when times became difficult, or when situations became uncontrollable, or beyond their - or our - ability to manage, they – just like us - called on God to deliver them - as we do.

As they became absorbed in the physical, they would forget the spiritual - like we do. They would major on temporal and ignore the eternal - as we do. God was not at the center of their lives or uppermost in their thoughts. How like us!

So, the Psalmist reminded them that “They soon forgot what He had done” - as we do!  

The word forgot is an interesting word. It signifies something that has been “mislaid.” In other words, they put God aside. That left a space in their hearts that had to be filled. They needed a god. So, what did they do? They made a golden calf, and instead of praising the God who called them His children, they worshiped an idol made of metal.

We were created to worship and have fellowship with the living God. If we forget that and put Him aside, we “create” other gods and put them in place of the living God. Whoever is or whatever is the priority in or of our life is our God or our god.  

Prayer:  Thank you Lord for always being with us in good times and bad. Help us, Lord, to recognize who or what we worship. May we never forget that who or what we worship is, in truth, who we will become. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today:  Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!  In the wilderness their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland.  So he gave them what they asked for, but he sent a plague along with it. Psalm 106:13-15 

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