Faith... Most of the time!

I trust God completely, most of the time... It's a strange thing to live by faith. Several times in my life I have taken pretty big steps of faith trusting God for everything to survive, and God has always met my needs. But then something weird happens; I start to "help" God, I don't know why. It's like I think, living by faith is Ok for short periods of time, but after a while I need to get back into control.

I feel like the Israelites in the wilderness. They trusted God for a while, then they tried to do things on their own. After a while God removes His blessing and they suffer. They realize they have forsaken God so they repent and trust God again and He blesses them again. At least until they forget Him again. It's a cycle that is repeated in the Old Testament over and over again.

What disturbs me is that it happens to me too!

I was reading in 2 Chronicles 15 & 16 about Asa, one of the Israelite king's who loved and trusted God, most of the time. The prophet of God came to him and said, "Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you." And Asa determined to trust God and God blessed him and all Israel.

But after a while, a problem came up and Asa didn't think of asking God for help, he asked another king to help him out. It seemed to make sense. He had a problem, another king provided an easy solution. It wasn't an evil decision, it made human sense, it's the way things had been done many times before. But he didn't ask God for His help.

Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: "Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand... When you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war." OUCH! God wanted to give Asa a full blessing and freedom for the Israelites. Asa wanted the same thing, but did it his way, not even realizing he wasn't trusting God.

God wants us to trust Him, lean on Him, and turn to Him all the time, for everything! When we do, He blesses us. When we forget Him and turn to other means to meet our needs, whatever they may be, He removes His blessing and lets us get by on our own.

I NEVER WANT TO GET BY ON MY OWN! I want to trust God every day for everything. But it is so easy to get comfortable and forget. He meets our needs, we are pleased, we give Him praise and then we just sort of forget and when the next problem comes up we try to solve it on our own, but without God's blessing because we didn't ask Him for His help.

I understand Paul's cry of anguish far too much, Romans 7:15 & 24-25 "I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate....Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord."

Thank you Jesus that you love and died for imperfect people like me. Now Lord help me to always trust you and not forget you. Amen.