GOD'S FOUL-WEATHER FRIENDS
God has lots of 'foul-weather friends.' Yes, 'foul-weather' friends. Usually we're warned by our moms to beware of fair-weather friends who will be loyal until the chips are down and then desert or stab us in the back. But with God it's different.
Let the sun shine and the breezes blow. Folks are happy and satisfied. Families flourish. Jobs give pay raises. The lawn is green and the trees are loaded with fruit. A new car graces the driveway and the bank account grows monthly. All is well. Prosperity abounds!
God is ignored. Or forgotten. Or at least shelved for the time being. So much, so many things beckon for attention from those who are so blessed. God is relinquished to the sidelines...blissfully not thanked or remembered for providing so much goodness!
Then it happens. The business closes or goes bankrupt. Dad digs into his savings to keep the homefront going as long as he's out of work. Mom is diagnosed with skin cancer. Junior is nabbed for dealing drugs at school, and her school says darling daughter is dyslectic.
The kids complain because it's hot dogs for supper again instead of Angus beef hamburgers with all the trimmings. The new car goes back to the bank for missed payments. Dad uses the old clunker to hunt for a new job. Mom searches the internet for cheaper ways to feed her hungry family. Son is mad because he can't have a pair of Air Jordans. Sissy wants a different jacket for school that Dad says 'no' to. It's a sad time in the household!
Times are tough! Out comes the dusty Bible from the top shelf. Mom and Dad fall on their knees in prayer. Sunday morning whether or not he wants to sleep, Junior is hustled out of bed. The whole family files into church to the surprise of the greeters at the door.
Slowly but surely the family begins to read the Bible together. They pray before eating and at bedtime. They're at church every Sunday. Junior is born again in a youth service on Wednesday night and is transformed. His drug dealings forsaken, so are his addicted friends. Dad finds a good job that pays better than the one he lost. Mom's chemo treatments check the cancer growth and finally her doctor declares she's cancer-free! The speech therapist at school sees Sissy make remarkable progress in her reading skills. What a change in the whole family.
Soon a new car stands on the driveway. Sissy has a whole new outfit. Mom's food budget includes steak for dinner, and Junior has LeBrons! Joy fills the house.
Dad suggests they look at a cabin on a lake with good swimming and woods for hiking. It's only two hours north where they can spend Friday nights and Saturdays relaxing...and then Sundays, too. The family has gone full circle and is back to square one. Once more, God is forgotten.
Foul-weather friends, for sure! As long as things were bleak, the family sought God and stayed close to Him through church and religious friends, and being faithful to Him as a family. But, come the blessings again and how easily they forget God the Provider to worship His provisions!
Thousands of years ago God warned Israel the same thing could happen to her...and it did. In Deuteronomy 8:10-14, Moses declared:
"When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today...then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out...of slavery."
How easily the human heart can be led astray by the good things God gives us. In the Ten Commandments God declared we must worship only Him and not idols. We forget the One Who gave us the blessings in the first place! Those very blessings become our idols that distract us from keeping God on the throne of our heart.
He belongs there. He must be there! When we are born again, we become engaged to Jesus! We pledge ourselves to Him alone. How dare we have other boyfriends, lovers, interests. We are His Bride!
When Jesus comes in the Rapture, which will be very soon, He will not take those whose hearts are untrue to Him and Him alone! He will not take spiritual adulterers!
Do not be a 'foul-weather' friend to Jesus. In spite of all He has given you, love Him supremely now and always! Crown Him Lord of your heart! He is coming for you soon. Be ready!