Consistency

So I have this problem. Whenever I think things are going badly for me, I feel really close to God. I am especially dependent on him because I know that he is the only one who can fix my problems. I know that if I trust in him more and rely on him more fully, things will get better. I pray really diligently that I will be content, but really I hope that God will fix whatever it is that I think is amiss.

That's when the problems start.

God is faithful. He answers our prayers. Even when we pray for contentment when what we really mean is "fix this. change it," he knows what we want and what we need.

So. Things are hard, I get really close to God, and then he makes them less hard because he is so merciful to me. The appropriate reaction in that situation would be to become closer to God, to be more grateful for his impact in my life, and strive to seek such a great and merciful creator more fully.

But I don't do that. I pray and pray and pray and things get better, and then I'll say something like, "Man! I'm such a winner." ....that literally happens.....all the time. And that's embarrassing.

So that's something I am trying to work on--consistency. I think it's great to be close to God when you think things are difficult, or when they are not how you want them to be. But it is also so important to remember him in our prosperity. When we pray for blessings, and God gives us blessings, we can't forget that he was the giver, and that we didn't deserve it.

We see the incorrect attitude toward God's blessings exemplified in the Israelites during the period of the judges. They would forget God, become wicked, be punished and have hardship, cry out to God that he would remove their hardship, receive a deliverer, be really happy that God saved them, and then forget God again. I know that was a foolish and wicked thing for the Israelites to do, but it's high time I realized it is foolish and wicked for me as well.   


If you are like the Israelites or like me and you struggle with being consistent in your devotion to God through good and bad times, here are some some passages that can encourage us all to do better:

2 Chronicles 16:9     For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.     
God is consistently watching out for us

James 1:17      Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
God is consistent in his blessings

Ephesians 2:4-5      But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved
God is merciful toward us. He gave us everything.

Matthew 6:30      But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the overn, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
God is the source of the things we have. He will provide.

Pslam 121     

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come? 
 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber. 

 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 

 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life. 

 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

 God is looking out for you.

So I realize now that these passages are ones that comfort me when I'm in those harder times, when I feel as though I am extra reliant on God. But I think that if I just continually had these passages in my mind and on my heart, I would realize that these are the things that are happening in the good times in my life. I have prosperity because God is diligent in his watching over me. I have blessings because God gives them to me. I always have salvation from God, for which I should be continually thankful. Everything I have is because God is looking after me and giving things to me. And God is watchful over me in the good times in my life, blessing me and keeping me from evil so that I may enjoy his majesty. Those passages aren't just encouragement, they are facts, and I should treat them that way when I feel as though I am particularly blessed.