Side Tracked

Psalm 106:13-15, ‘But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death. The above passage details how the children of Israel after liberation from Egypt through miracles and wonders, after crossing the Red Sea and seeing their enemies vanquished, they rejoiced in the LORD for a short while but were quick to forget their God and started to rebel. They forgot the mighty deeds God had done before and for them in His faithfulness and love for them. They did not wait for His plans for taking them to the promised land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey to unfold. Impatience was their downfall. It was a manifestation of their lack of trust in their Heavenly Father. They rebelled against God’s provision of manna and insisted on having some meat with their meal. They tested God’s patience but Jehovah is long suffering and gave them what they wanted. He sent them an abundance of quail and they ate until they became sick of it. They realised that the meat they wanted was not what they needed. What they needed was the presence of the LORD in their life. How many of us are like the children of Israel who after being shown the good plans the LORD has for us, plans to give us a hope and a future, how many become impatient with God and instead of trusting in His ways and timings, try to achieve the same through our own power, might and effort. We rebel against His time, counsel, leading and direction. God is long suffering and has given us free will and when we choose to do something outside of His will and purpose for us, He will allow you to do it. Unfortunately for us, this comes with a price. We later on realise that we have given dominion of our lives over to that particular thing and it does not bring us the joy that we thought it would. We then suffer disease and death both literally and figuratively. It masters us instead of us mastering it and becomes our idol. Do not allow yourself to be ensnared by idolatry. After all the heartache and loss through the grace of God, we come to our senses like the prodigal son and realise our folly and rebellion. It is then that God convicts us of our rebellion for us to repent and go back to Him. We can save ourselves from all this heartache by just choosing to live in obedience to our LORD, trusting His plans and timings always with perseverance for in the end we shall receive the victory that He has won for us. Remember God has good plans for us, but the enemy wants to spoil it all for you by robbing, stealing and killing the joy of the LORD out of it.