The nation of Israel had a bad habit.
It was one that they struggled with throughout the centuries, and often, still struggle with today. Even though they have history written down, recorded for them to learn from, the Israelites were stubborn and often refused to change their ways.
They routinely forgot about God.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, it wasn’t just a slip of the mind now and then, they deliberately ignored Him. Instead of keeping God at the front of their lives, they often focused their affections on the pleasures and temptations of the world.
Jeremiah 2:31-32 tells us God’s response to their willful forgetfulness. He says…”Now listen to what I say! Did I abandon you in the desert or surround you with darkness? You are my people, yet you have told me, “We’ll do what we want, and we refuse to worship you!” A bride could not forget to wear her jewelry to her wedding, but you have forgotten me day after day.”
Here’s the rub…God gave them what they wanted. He left them to wallow in their sin.
And here’s where I come in…
I have to watch where I focus my attention, because, well, the more I focus on the pleasures of this life the easier it becomes to forget God…His care, His love, His dependability, His guidance, and finally, most of all, God Himself.
I do not want to be like the Israelites, left to wallow in the muck and filth of this world because my heart is turned by something shiny. I don’t want to learn those hard lessons they learned when God left them to their own devices over and over again only to end up captives to their own desires and passions. I don’t want to come to the end of my life and realize my hands are full of air, that my heart is cold and there is nothing but myself where God should be.
So I must ask myself some hard questions…
What pleases me most?
Have I been forgetting God lately?
If I were to die tonight, would God say, “Well done though good and faithful servant” or would He say something else?