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God has gotten some of us through some pretty hard times. Maybe our lives were spared when we got into a horrible accident. We thanked God for saving us and appreciated life in a whole new way. We vowed to live for God like we knew we should be in the first place and we decided to cut out all those hindrances to our faith.
Maybe God helped our marriage get back on track. We realized how selfish we had been and thanked God for helping us get through it. We vowed that from now on we would put God first and our family would be a close second.
Maybe we really struggled financially and God helped our little family make it through some pretty rough years. We didn’t know how we would do it, but we trusted God and sought Him even during those hard times.
I’m sure there is story after story of those who have faced the darkest of times, God has gotten them through, and they vowed to live their lives for God because of it. The factor that every struggle and vow have in common is that every single one has time that follows after it. There are days that follow our promises to God, there are weeks that follow our promises to our family, there are years that follow our commitment to do better.
Hosea 13:5-6
I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land. But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me.
God took care of us when we were broken, tired, and confused. But then we got back on our feet. We started walking out each day. We went to work and came home. We did our hobbies and pursued dreams. Things became quite a bit easier for us. Each day was not a struggle as it had been, and so we didn’t need to quite lean on God like we used to. In fact, we figured we could make it through most every day without even acknowledging Him.
Before we knew it, we didn’t think of Him when we made our decisions and we weren’t concerned with His opinion when we made our plans. We became satisfied with the decent job we were doing conducting our lives as we saw fit and we forgot about Him. We forgot about the One we declared that we so desperately needed. We forgot about the One who walked us through the hardest days of our life. We forgot our promises to Him and those around us.
Oh we feel like we have to seek God when the bottom is falling out under our feet! But what about when there is nothing there to press us into seeking Him? How do we not forget God in the good times?
Hosea 10:12-13
I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’
“But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies—
Because you have trusted in your own way.
Every single day we plant good seeds of righteousness. We commit to doing things that help us connect with God, no matter what. Now is the time to plow up any hard part of our heart. Quickly, before it spreads! We can’t encourage or support any type of wickedness in our life. We can’t nurture sin - we must pluck it out as we see it sprout up.
When we become proud, we trust in our own plans for our life. We don’t consult God, and our life becomes based on lies. God is truth, and if we are not cultivating that truth every day then when will produce the fruit of lies. These lies we believe, the lies we tell ourselves, and the lies we agree with become rotten fruit that we will be forced to gorge ourselves on.
Father God, Please help me to never forget You! You have seen me through my darkest days. I have depended on You to get me through hard times I didn’t know how I would come out of. But You were there for me when I called on You. Please never let me become complacent and proud. I needed You then and I need You now. Please help me be consistent in pursuing You and Your righteousness every single day of my life. In the good, the bad, the valleys, and the mountain tops – You are who I need and I can’t do any of it without You.