How often do I decide to make a positive change in my life and then I don’t follow-through? I change my mind. It gets too hard.
How often does this happen? More often than I like.
What about you?
How often are we convicted by the Holy Spirit to make an adjustment in order to better line our lives up with God’s will? And, after we try, we give up. When it gets tough, we go back to our old habits.
We are very fickle. When it gets hard, we opt out of the difficult changes that are needed and decide to go back to being comfortable.
In Jeremiah 34, we read about the Israelites doing this same thing. The Law of Moses had restricted how long Hebrews could be slaves. When Jeremiah pointed out that fact that the Israelites had not been following this law, they realized what they were doing was wrong so they let their slaves go free…
for a short time.
"But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again." (vs 11)
God doesn’t tell us the details of why the Israelites changed their minds – but we can read between the lines, can’t we?
Life got hard. The Israelites had to get their own water and cook their own food. They had to clean and do all of the dirty work the slaves had been doing.
Obeying the law was just too difficult so they decided to disobey and go back to the comfortable life they had before they were convicted of their sin.
And they missed the blessings that come after we obey.
God blesses obedience. He has blessings lined up, waiting for us……if we’ll do the tough part of obeying.
When I do the things that the Holy Spirit is prompting me to do, I feel the satisfaction that comes with partnering with God in his plan. I feel the contentment and satisfaction of living my life in line with God. I also experience the wonder of God’s supernatural love and strength and peace. These are blessings from God.
The blessings that only come after I obey.
Judy