Don’t Get Comfortable

Scripture: "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart." Deut 4:9

Observation: Moses has just walked them back through their history. All the victories. All the failures. Everything that God had done was recalled and discussed. He concluded by reminding the people of who their God was and just exactly what He was capable of doing. Then he issues the warning contained in this scripture. He knew they were heading into a season of victory. He was encouraging them to not allow their success to give birth to failure.

Application: I still remember the day. The unpleasant stench of garbage still clings to my nostrils. I was hiding. Afraid to see other people. Man, had I fallen far. At my highest point, I was one of the most popular and genuinely liked people you would ever hope to meet. Everyone was my best friend. I was the life of the party. The trusted confidant of many. It all went to my head, then it all came crashing down. God had turned His back on me and I was quickly reminded that He is a Holy God and that He refuses to allow my life to go unchecked. He had checked me hard and I had clearly gotten the picture. This particularl day, as I sat by a dumpster, He spoke to me through His word and called me back into Himself. I got up that day and headed out determined to walk down a new path. Victory came easy. Things that once tempted me were suddenly undesirable. I was coasting along, totally unaware that I hade made a bad decision. My recovery had a fatal flaw. In my attempt to feel comfort and not suffer the rejection of my friends I tried to play off my decision to no longer do the things that I once did as a personal choice. My will power was strong enough to hold me up and I was lulled into complacency and comfort by Satan. Before long, I fell back into the same behavior patterns. Looking back, I now realize that there were a few problems with my thinking that led to my falling down again. First, I failed to give heed to myself. I did not pay careful attention to the things I was feeling. In my efforts to "get" better, I tried to use my will power. This meant that I tried to ignore my temptations. By doing this, I actually ended up ignoring myself which resulted in me not paying special attention to what God was attempting to heal. The second thing that I did wrong was that I did not keep my soul diligently. I kept all the same friends. I went to all the same places. I fed myself the same bad thoughts. I tolerated certain sins mostly because I was fighting the "bigger" sins in my life. I was an easy target for Satan to take down. I did not feed myself on the pure and wholesome word of God. I did not allow it to transform me from the inside out. Instead of constantly filling my heart with pure things, I always waited until I was being overrun with temptation to seek God. As result, I ended up crashing again. Thankfully, God was there to pick me up again. Thankfully, Deuteronomy 4: 29-31 says this, "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them."

Prayer: I am so stubborn. That part of my flesh that refuses to die has driven me to rock bottom so many times that I feel I have a second home there. I sit here today and I am honestly shocked that I would still listen to that voice and fall victim to my own thinking. I am so grateful that You hear my voice when I reach a point of desperation and that you allow me to find you. You never forsake me nor do you go back on Your promises. Even when I have abandoned all that I promised, You hold firm. Thank you. As I have reflected over my life this morning I am excited by the level of growth that you have arranged in me. I am still far from where I need to be, but I am so very far from where I started. I am glad to be where I am. While I am glad to be headed in the direction that I am going, my greatest concern is that I become comfortable for I know that comfort leads to complacency and complacency leads me to tolerance and tolerance leads to my own self-destruction. Continue to be gracious to me in allowing me access to Your wisdom and discernment and use it to transform my life. More than anything else, they are what I desire for my life.