MARCH 14 "WE ARE A FICKLE PEOPLE"

  A healthy dose of reality for us is to be able to see our selves in the Israelites. I sure don't dress like them and I sure don't talk like them, but I sure act like them, how about you? First of all, they have to get angry, before they are willing to pray. It shows they know the value of prayer but only seem to pray when it benefits them; nonetheless, they pray to God. our scripture says, "The Lord heard the Israelite's request and gave them the victory". A tremendous victory it was 100% correlated to their prayer to God. You would think that would be a reference point for them of how real God is and how good He is, but as the story goes on, as it will with you and I. the journey grew long. This is where we become fickle. If only serving God was a 50 yard sprint, we would all be doing much better. However it's not a sprint, it's a long distance journey, called life! The long journey causes many of us who once had fire coming out of our finger tips, to become weary, doubting and fickle Christians. One day we are going to win the world for Jesus; next Sunday we are struggling with going to church. One day we are preaching to someone to have "faith & believe", next week we are down in the dumps and nobody can talk us out of it. The people of Israel go from believing in God for a great miracle and then witness that miracle but yet as the journey grows long they are actually quoted as saying, "They complained against God and Moses" and said "why have your brought us out here in this wilderness only to die here". The same God who heard their prayer and rescued them is now going to let them die? Doesn't make any sense to me, does it make any sense to you? I'm sure your answer is "no" but to them, it makes perfect sense. One of the unique characters about powerful and Godly couples is that they both actually have to have this "resolute faith". And that's why we have even less Godly couples than we think, in the Church of Christ. Fickle Christians are not going to make great strides for God. It will be 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. Does God not due miracles for us so that we can build a posture and faith that is resolute or does He just do them because we asked and He wants to show off. No, He does them to build in us a faith that is resolute, not fickle. This is why God is so upset by the events that take place in our story and God sends poisonous snakes and many of the fickle people are bitten and many die". I wonder if God still sends poisonous snakes to fickle people anymore or do you think God got saved between the Old Testament and the New Testament? No, He is the same God and He has not changed. He was good then and He is good today, and I would not be surprised at all to find out that He still sends poisonous snakes to bite his fickle people. Maybe it's that we don't recognize them, maybe it's that we think it's "the devil" or "bad luck". Maybe it's neither, but what we do know for sure is God gets upset and tired with fickle people after He has done miracle after miracles and rescued us over and over again. When will we get it, when will we understand, that God is there for us, God is on our side and though the journey grow long, there's no way, He has brought us this far, to abandon us and let us die in the wilderness.