We Are Not Deserving Of God's Help

Sometimes we falsely attribute man’s attributes to God. We think that if we have complained too much, messed up too much, been a little too imperfect, God will cut us off. Or, we may even think that for others. The bible doesn’t teach this. God is not a fair weather friend. He is not keeping a long list of your failures just waiting to read them back to you. He also does not roll His eyes, throw up His hands and say “I’m done!” No. He continues to consistently provide for His children as a loving father. That provision may not be what you would have chosen or come how you would have chosen. And if we aren’t careful, it’s easy to take it for granted.

Today I was encouraged reading in Exodus. The children of Israel witnessed first hand God’s deliverance from the Red Sea, but it did not take long for them to find a grievance. They started to grumble against Moses and Aaron about a lack of water. (Exodus 15) Then they grumbled about a lack of food. (Exodus 16) God graciously provided both of those needs. Yet the thing that amazes me is Exodus 16:35 “So the people of Israel ate manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where they would settle. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.”

Despite the fact that Israelites seemed to constantly complain, repeat the same mistakes, and take God for granted, God did not stop meeting their basic needs. God still faithfully and miraculously continued to provide food. He was faithful to them daily for 40 years! That’s 14,600 days! Personally, I don’t know if I’d make it through the first 365!

The first thing we may be thinking is “Wow! They didn’t deserve that!” Let me make something clear. NONE of us deserve God’s kindness! There is nothing we could ever possibly do that would be enough of a payment, repayment or equal to the measure of goodness He dishes out. That is the beauty, mystery, and consistency of God. He remains faithful despite our history of unfaithfulness. If He makes a promise, He keeps it.

The story of Hosea is an excellent example of this. In the book of Hosea, Hosea marries a prostitute. And though she doesn’t remain faithful, Hosea does. It is a direct picture of us and of God. God has chosen to join Himself to us and love us even though He knows we’ll stray. He continues to love us when we don’t love Him back. When you think about the amount of rejection Hosea faced daily, I can barely fathom that. Yet, God faces that rejection daily, multiplied by millions possibly billions, and He still doesn’t change His disposition towards us!

Be encouraged today that God’s love and goodness overshadows our short comings. Be encouraged that even though we don’t “get it right”, God doesn’t base His provision on that. God has known for generations we are prone to wander, but He still follows after us to get us back.

Luke 15 is the story of the prodigal son. I think it shadows the Israelites in Exodus. In each case, when they repented and made their u-turn, God didn’t turn them away. He didn’t yell at them “Uhm... you don’t seem sorry enough.” or “I’ll take you back, but at a lesser position in my life.” No God’s answer always is that He’s kept your seat at the table open because He was waiting for you. You are His son. You are His daughter and you have all the rights and privileges that that entitles you to. Know today that even when we mess up and expose our ungratefulness, God is always grateful when we come back. His provision is not based on what we have done. It is based on who He is.