The Straying Factor

In the Old Testament you read the story of the Israelites. You read how Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, out of oppression, and then eventually how Joshua brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, Canaan. There they lived, and were blessed by the Lord for many years. However, later you learn that the Israelites, who were God’s chosen people, strayed from the Lord. They got away from worshipping Him, and instead focused on idol worship and earthly things and pursuits. They stayed from the Lord. This is the first time this happened. However, it was not the last. This basic scenario happened numerous times throughout the Old Testament between the Israelites and the Lord. Just in the book of Judges alone it happens 7 times! The cycle goes something like this:

The Israelites are in deep trouble i.e. slavery, war, oppression.
They cry out to the Lord for help.
The Lord hears them and answers their calls.
The Lord saves the Israelites. (Usually in an incredibly awesome and powerful way.)
They are thankful and rejoice and worship the Lord!
But then, at some point in the future, again, they start to stray.
Next thing they know they are in deep trouble i.e. slavery, war, oppression again
And on and on it goes.

One day as I was thinking about this, I realized that people nowadays, myself included, are often guilty of this same basic scenario in our lives. We love the Lord and things are going great. But somehow, at some point in time, we get caught up, forgetful, distracted, lazy in our walk. Essentially we start to stray. Then something happens in our life, or a situation arises and we’re completely at a loss. We cry out to the Lord, just as the Israelites did. The Lord hears our cries and comes to our aid. He may change the situation; he may bring in some help in the form another person. He may give you the extra strength you needed to get through that situation. But however He did it, He still did it. He answered your call. And things are better. We are tremendously grateful and praise the Lord. And then, some time passes and…..well, you know the story! Mind you, this is not to say we go through the same type of hardships that the Israelites did. It was a very different world then. But the cycle is still the same with us thousands of years later.

But here is the thing that perplexed me. The bible tells us that God already knew ahead of time that the Israelites would turn their back on Him! Before He even came to their aid, He knew they would turn on Him who saved them. In Deut 31:16, it says:

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Soon you will be at rest with your fathers, and then this people will take to rendering wanton worship to the strange gods among whom they will live in the land they are about to enter. They will forsake me and break the covenant which I have made with them.”

Later on in that same chapter it says: “…For I know what they are inclined to do even at the present time, before I have brought them into the land….” Deut 31:21.

That is amazing to me. So then I thought, He made us therefore He knew our strengths and weaknesses. And that brought me to the real question: Why would God create us that way?

Think about it. There’s God; He could create any creature He wanted. He formed us in His image. Why would He put this tendency to ‘forget’ or to stray from Him in us? I know this is part of Him giving us free will. But even with that, no matter how much we love the Lord, most of us tend to periodically move away from Him. I understood why we do it but what I didn’t understand was why God would create us like this? Especially since it is a way to ‘offend’ Him! Why not put a 100% devotion to Him who created us? If you or I were an inventor of some kind, would we create something like this on purpose? I don’t think I would!

But there must be a reason because God did put this in us and after all He’s God. He doesn’t make mistakes. So I meditated on this question and I asked for wisdom from the Lord. I felt I received an answer.

Yes, God created us exactly as we are. He is our creator and Father. He’s our loving, supporting, nurturing, patient and all powerful Heavenly Father. We are His children. All parents want to be with their children. But there comes a time that children want to be away from their parent(s). They want to be independent and ‘in control’. That is fine and natural in our world. But we tend to do this with our relationship with God.

However when we do move away from the Lord, our life changes, and for the worse. We start to hit hardships, experience bad relationships, struggles, difficulties and experience emptiness. Our life seems to get harder. But the real problem is that we are not equipped when these times hit. Because we have strayed from the Lord we don’t have the stuff we need to weather these storms and situations. Our straying causes us to experience these things.

And I’m not just talking about the big problems in life. Even the little minor annoyances or inconveniences of the day can really get to us when we’re away from God. For example, let’s say you are out having lunch with a friend and your server is very rude to you. This can really upset us, can’t it? This can really get us worked up. How do we handle it when we’re not walking with the Lord? Maybe we’re rude right back at that person or maybe we talk about him or her behind their back. Maybe we leave little or no tip just to get back at the person! Whatever it is, there’s no compassion, no patience, no kindness. What’s more is that, maybe all throughout the rest of the day, we’re telling people about that lousy server we had. Even more so is that, maybe anytime that restaurant comes up in a conversation we recant this experience to others. This one little teeny, tiny incident goes on and on.

Now think about that same scenario when you’re truly close to the Lord. Think about it. How different would you be? How would you treat that person? How would you feel yourself? You’d be vastly different, wouldn’t you? What a tremendous difference in such a small seemingly insignificant matter.

Friends, we need to stay with God. Not because you won’t have problems. You will. You will still have your share of hardships, struggles, challenges and difficulties. They won’t be any different. But you will be different.

People who walk with the Lord (and do their best not to stray), operate on a whole other level, don’t they? It’s amazing. Their whole world may be crashing in around them but they are fine! They have this inner peace, quiet confidence. They can still walk with dignity.

Because as long as you’re with God, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, your problems are never big. Even when they appear big, they are not. Because being with our Heavenly Father gives you things that you can never get anywhere else. Like what? Like:

Hope-when there is absolutely no evidence for it;
Confidence- in the abilities that God gave you;
Strength-knowing that it is He who guides you;
Joy-in being His child;
Peace-knowing He’ll never forsake you;
Calm-in the midst of the storm;
Creativity-to get ideas and solutions;
Ideas, Solutions and finally
Answers

When we stay close to the One Big True Answer you will get all those little answers you need.

So with all that being said, understood and believed, why did God put this tendency in us to stray from Him?

Just for that reason.

So that when we have strayed & we cry out to Him and He answers us, it proves to us even more, how much He loves us. And at no time is his mercy and love for us more evident than when we are so undeserving of it. When we have strayed and we find ourselves in the thick of problems, He is there to call out to: Help Lord! Save me! I need You!

God has the ability and power to help us, even when we can’t help ourselves and even when we are so undeserving. We can never realize His greatness and awesome power unless we’re brought to a place of weakness and need his enduring mercy.
Getting to a place of needing Him allows Him to show us His love, kindness and mercy again, and again, and again. Without needing Him, how can He come to our aid? How can He show us He is the Lord?

Without us having strayed, we can’t get to know Him in an even more glorified way than we did before we strayed. It brings us to a new level of closeness to Him. A deeper relationship. Without stray, there can be no reunion. Without stray there cannot be a stronger bond formed than there was before. A deeper love discovered, more gratitude felt, more grace experienced, more awareness of His awesome power and moreover His tremendous love for us. I heard someone once say that you can’t give a testimony without having a test. True words.



Also when we do start to stray from the Lord, we know it. Maybe not consciously at first, but we start to notice something missing, even before we hit troubled times. There is a void. The only thing that can fill that void is God.

It’s like my son. He’s two. If he’s playing with something, say his Leggos, and he can’t connect two pieces together, it’s a big problem to him. He may get upset, frustrated, angry, even stamp his feet. But then along sweeps in Daddy or Mommy, who seemingly floats on in, puts their hands over his hands and helps him connect those pieces together that were, just a moment ago, the biggest problem in his life(!) Then they walk away and he’s standing there, problem totally solved. He got the help he needed from his loving parent just when he really needed it, when he cried out. And an even deeper bond was formed between parent and child. Even if you are not a parent you (hopefully) still know what the love of a parent feels like, whether it was from your parent, relative or anyone that guided you and protected you as you grew up. Or maybe it is you who are that guiding help to a child in your life. As a parent, it gives me awesome pleasure to be able to do even something so small like that for him.

There are, I’m sure, people who are able to rarely stray and that’s what we should all strive for, but the tendency is still there. However, don’t despair if you stray from the Lord, as long as you come back home, it’s a constant and never ending chance for Him to show His love for us. What a blessing that is. Not only does He love us already, created us, gives us so much. But even that, is not enough for Him. He wants to prove to us His love even more! Great is He!

So this tendency is a way for Him to do that, time and time again, throughout our lives. And this gives us, His children, the opportunity to experience this love time and time again.


To Him be the Glory!
God Bless You!