Annoying your readers

There are a lot of people and people groups in the bible that drive me nuts. Seriously. The Israelites, the tribe of Judah, Jesus’ own disciples, the list could go on and on.

I just don’t understand how you get bread from the sky, water from a rock, or literally SEE God on a mountaintop, and then you turn away. There is such a prevalent pattern throughout the bible of God’s people turning away, God reveals himself or does something big, these people repent and come back to the Lord and then 15 minutes later they are building another golden cow.

Sometimes I just want to be yell ” JUST FIND NEW PEOPLE GOD!” These people are the worst and obviously can’t get it together.

But he sticks with them. He continues to pursue their hearts. He loves them, even when it doesn’t make sense.

He does the same thing with us.

I mess up all the time. I’ve seen God work in HUGE ways in my life yet I still keep trying to do things with my own strength.

One of my favorite verses in the bible (purely because of the image it evokes) is Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” The people of Judah ate a lot of vomit. The people of Israel ate a lot of vomit. We eat a lot of vomit. How often do we walk away from the feast that God provides at his table and instead say, “No thanks, I don’t want that prime rib. I’d rather eat this pile of regurgitated Alpo and grass.”

If someone wrote a book of the bible over your life, would the people reading it be annoyed?

I know mine would. I am just like the Israelites in that I continually see God answer prayers and work in extraordinary ways then I keep going back to the pile of dog vomit.

Our flesh will never be enough. I can’t problem solve or plan my way through life without eventually reaching the end of myself and realizing that I need him.

So let’s try to stop annoying our readers and seek strength from Him alone.