Prone To Wander

"Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, Your sins have been your downfall! ... 'I will heal their waywardness [backsliding] and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them" (Hosea 14:1,4, NIV). 
"Backsliders get what they deserve..." (Prov. 14:14, NLT).  
"Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself..." (Isa. 45:15, NIV).  
"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night...[?]'" (Job 35:10, NIV).
"... God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart" (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV).  

Robert Robinson wrote the famous hymn  "Come Thou Fount" to show his struggle with the faith and how God got him through the hard times. Everyone is subject to backsliding, depression, and wandering from the faith because this is the natural inclination of our sin nature.  Robinson was indeed a man of struggles and hardship and suffered melancholy, known today as depression.  In fact, in his later years, he would've given anything to feel like he did at twenty-two writing that hymn.  It would seem it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The feelings come and go like a yo-yo and a weather-vane in a storm, but our faith must endure.  We must learn Reality 101 that we also must not depend upon feelings as a measure of our faith, but obedience.  Sooner or later, we must face the reality of the test of our faith.

We may wonder about the whereabouts of God as Job did ("If only I knew where to find him..." in Job 23:3, NIV) and if He is meeting His end of the deal and if we do really have faith after all.  The fact is, is that the same trials make some bitter, and some better.  We ought to rejoice in our sufferings (cf. Rom. 5:3) and that we are considered worthy to suffer for His name's sake.  There may be times when there seems no hope like Job experienced, or one may be at the end of one's rope and their hope has perished like Jeremiah's.  But we must learn to acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of the storm and if He got us to it, He'll get us through it!  We don't have to wonder where God is, but where our faith is!  God can calm all the storms of life and every stormy relationship or stressful event.  We hang in there like Job in Job 14:14, NIV:  "...All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come."

We must feel the pain to be able to relate and to and comfort others in their afflictions (cf. 2 Cor. 1:10)!  That's one reason Jesus felt our pains and was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief"--to identify with us.  Even believers may wonder periodically if God is really there, and if He is aware of our situation.  But no problem is too trivial or too big for our God to be able to take care of.  But note that God didn't explain Himself to Job and doesn't need to explain Himself to us--He's too profound!  We all have a cross to bear, a crucible that comes with the territory--no cross means no crown!  It is adversity that builds character and if we had no problems our faith could never be tested--and it's more precious than silver and gold.  So, when your storm comes, learn to seek God and His presence and the comfort of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Jesus isn't asking anything of us He didn't go through Himself (He didn't exempt Himself from predicaments, adversities, and exigencies) but He was honest enough to warn us to count the cost.  No one gets through life trouble free or without any stress or trials; we need it to grow by them though.  We must not question where God is, but ask ourselves:  Where isn't God?  And we must celebrate the fact that the battle is the Lord's, and we are fighting from victory, not for victory.  This is where we find out if we have the right stuff to be disciples and what we are made of.  We cannot skate through life problem-free!  Let's echo Alfred, Lord Tennyson's words:  "I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar."   In the meantime, we are to go over to the other side with Jesus at the helm and simply live a life following Him in obedience to prove our faith and love. 

Note that God is not playing cosmic hide-and-seek and He is not MIA or missing-in-action!  Next time, don't wonder about God, but where you are!  The late Francis Schaeffer said, "He is there and He is not silent."    St. Augustine of Hippo said, "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you."  Pascal, in the same vein, talked of a "God-shaped blank" or vacuum only God can fill!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Spiritual Downward Spiral

   "'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him"  (Hosea 14:4, NKJV).
"... Your sins have been your downfall"  (Hosea 14:1, NIV).  
"'... But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:7, NKJV). 
"Indeed, the LORD will give justice to his people, and he will change his mind about his servants, when he sees their strength is gone"  (Deut. 32:36, NLT).

Christians don't turn on God and rebel suddenly, but slowly drift:  "So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it," (cf. Heb. 2:1, NLT)> 

Some believers don't march forward in their faith, nor even tread water, but go back as so-called backsliders. A walk with the Lord implies you are going forward and going someplace!  God can heal this phenomenon as He promises above in Hosea 14:4.  What happens to initiate such spiritual degeneration or descent?  Instead of progressing from degeneration to regeneration, some lose spiritual ground or territory by conceding it to Satan and giving him the opportunity and open the door to his mischief, and degenerate again, even becoming worse than they were at the beginning before they learn their lesson.  Like Jesus told of the unclean spirit that returned with seven other spirits eviler than itself!   One might ask himself:  how low can I go?

It all begins with a "disconnect" from God, whereby we aren't abiding in the Word and become spiritually slack and our laxity affects every area of our walk as we try to go it alone apart from the body that we are members one of another. There is always the danger of spiritual complacency, getting cocky spiritually, and thinking one has "arrived," and Satan may then catch him on a spiritual high, so to speak.  Everyone is vulnerable to the wiles of Satan and we must not be ignorant of them, for he specializes in mind-games and psychological warfare, and plays with our ego and pride.

When the Word has lost its pizzazz or we get so-called Bible fatigue, we must heed the spiritual wakeup call and seek the presence of the Lord and not become derelict of our spiritual calling to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him--discipleship can be demanding and we must not become lax!  This comes with the territory and we signed up for it.  This is why repentance and submission to God's will are not one-time spiritual events, but progressive as we go from faith to faith and grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord.

Faith does seem to begin by waning or deteriorating and this will happen if it isn't fed by the Word of God. Growth needs nourishment!  What happens next is a doubting of God's goodness like Job and the believer asks why and when no answer is forthcoming he loses faith or breaks faith with God (however God is always faithful to us), but he never loses faith entirely or goes into utter despair--there's always a seed or minutiae of faith hanging on for life support.  

If the backslider persists in his rebellion he may become defiant and get angry at God and even throw a temper tantrum or have a fit to take it out on God Himself--when he should be angry at himself!  The reason he cannot recover so easily is that he may have spiritual inertia and cannot make the first move--God must make the overture and He will!  This is because of man's natural inclination to sloth or acedia and he is slack spiritually when he is estranged from God or out of fellowship--it takes a work of grace to restore him.

But backsliders have a tendency to commit spiritual suicide and sabotage their own spiritual health by having an aversion to the Word of God and balking at learning the things of God in depth, therefore they are wholly unprepared for the schemes of Satan.  The milk of the Word will not be sufficient to feed a seasoned believer through this so-called Anfectung (Martin Luther penned this word--German for "attack").   And he may find himself using yesterday's day-old food and leftovers for tomorrows meal, so to speak, and not realize he needs the unadulterated Word from the Lord to feed his soul, giving daily and timely growth and nourishment meant for that day (our daily bread)/   If he has not developed good devotion habits he may starve himself spiritually and die of spiritual malnutrition, as it were.  This is where the body of Christ comes in and acts like an organism, not an organization, to bring healing to those who confess (cf. James 5:16).    Soli Deo Gloria!

Beginning Afresh

I have been asked if I wanted to start my own church or even religion, because I have a way of making impressions on people with my so-called "knowledge." If you want to start a church, you must wonder if you are a control freak and refusing to submit to one another in the body of Christ. I have been known to leave a church or two out of disagreement that could've been settled, but I admit I wanted things my way. Sometimes you just have to ask yourself:  "Who do you think you are?" By whose authority are you founding a church?  Are all the gifts of the Spirit available? Consider 1 Cor. 14:26 as an example of a church meeting where all gifts contribute.  Having a preacher doesn't make a fellowship a church--the church is a family and an organism with all parts of the body active and using its various spiritual gifts.  Just what gift do you think you have?  You never win by quitting because God isn't a quitter. I have heard it said that it doesn't matter who's right, but whose left!  The goal is faithfulness: "He who endures to the end shall be saved." If you start the "perfect church" it isn't perfect because you are in it!  "Loyalty is better than sacrifice" according to 1 Sam. 15:22.

Sectarian or cult leaders usually manifest a few given traits:  They warp the truth with their own personal take on doctrine;  they are sheep-stealers or proselytizers who don't begin with converting the unsaved; they are on a side-issue or invested in a novelty that distorts the truth to fit their fancy; they never are members of a larger fellowship, but think they have cornered the market on truth; they usually are led by charismatic figures or ones with a great personality and are devoted to them; and they don't see themselves as belonging to Christ alone, who purchased them. You must ask:  Is this a sect, or a bona fide church?

The issue at hand is whether the average Christian has the authority to start his own church just because he is in disagreement and is not content for some reason--it is really the sin of rebellion against authority duly established by God.  Cult leaders like the Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple were in rebellion long before their church slid into apostasy without the anchors of God's authority through the Word--they thought they were getting God's Word right from the horse's mouth! Church splits, which are really sectarianism, are always wrong and God has only allowed them for the same reason He permits divorce--due to the hardness of men's hearts.  Paul always urged church leaders to get along and work things out, not to react and go overboard to start all over from square one by building a new church.  New churches are not to be built on someone's else's territory but from where Christ in not preached--it is the cults who proselytize and steal sheep.  Even members of your own family are not your sheep but the church's at large and to pull the rug from under them is to uproot what God has done and destroy His work and labor of love.

Just think if everyone who disagreed with church policy or the pastor's sermon decided to begin a new church.  We don't need more churches, we need the truth--so take a stand!--and more Christians. The church is an institution in loco Dei (in place of God) and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft according to 1 Samuel 15:23.   In determining morality the end or purpose has to be considered as well as the motive or methodology--both the means and the ends have to be justified.  You should ask yourself:  What if everyone did it and wanted his own way?  What kind of precedent are you setting?

When we come to faith in Christ we are making a commitment and that is realized largely through interaction with the church community. There is a degree of loyalty to the church that we owe because we are fed and in their spiritual care.  Lack of church loyalty is a sign (though not the absolute standard) that a person is disloyal to Christ and unwilling to accept authority.  When you join a new church you are, in effect, starting all over and beginning afresh spiritually from the bottom of the ladder to success.  When you start a new church you must wonder whether you have authority to start at the top and whether you have God's blessing on what you are doing and it isn't just a whim.

There are times when we must begin all over, but this is after apostasy or backsliding.  The Bible doesn't admonish us to start in a new church but to face the music and do the responsible and adult thing like admit your failure and seek help.  We are not to run away from our problems, or worse yet, run away from God Himself!  Sometimes people have invested a lot in us and to write them off or to give them the shaft is not the loving thing to do and means we don't love our brother.  Soli Deo Gloria!