Tammy On Tuesday ~ The Danger of the Drift

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 Hebrews 2:1 So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.

PINIMAGEI remember as a child going to the eastern seashore. At times the waves would be so big they would post warnings about the current. Being a child, the breaking waves seemed even larger and when I would play in the water I always kept my eyes on my mom or my dad. I was a cautious child and feared the larger waves (especially after being pummeled a time or two, tossed around by the angry surf) so I stayed a little closer to the shore than others. But no matter how hard I tried, with the pounding of the waves, I tended to drift down the shoreline. If I took my eyes off my parents for even a minute, I was at risk of losing site of them altogether. For a while I might play there in the sand, but upon thinking of where I was and where they were I would look for them. If it ever took more than a few seconds to find them panic would rise up in me. How far had I drifted this time?

I struggle with the drift as a child of God too. The drift is obvious in our culture all around us. In a world where right is wrong and wrong is celebrated, I find that I tend to cast a glance toward other gods (idols) and I drift in my own heart toward danger – away from truth.

God’s children, the Israelites, knew the drift all too well. In fact, much of the Old Testament is a cycle where they drift from God and fall into idol worship, reap the consequences of their sin and then return to the Lord. As I read the accounts, I wonder when God will say “Enough is enough!”

But then there’s me. I am also guilty.  I relate to the words of the familiar song, Come Thou Fount which say, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.”

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.”

As I read about the rebellion of God’s people, I see that their stubbornness at times cost them way more than they would ever want to pay. In Jeremiah, Israel had turned to idol worship once again, fashioning gods to bow down to. (Jeremiah 2:11-13) The passage says,

Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the LORD. “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

This sad account is indicative of what we as God’s people often do. We are prone to wander…to drift. We don’t set up little metal or wooden idols in our homes or devise newfangled deities in our minds. But we often foolishly make God into our man-made ideas of Him OR we worship the gods of the present day:

Money

Status

Comfort

Success

Relationships

and safety, to name a few.

Notice God’s response to our infidelity. Words like shock, horror and dismay tell us this is a pretty big deal. And yet we treat it casually. We drift.

Not long ago I was reading in Jeremiah chapter 3. In this chapter, God likens our idol worship to adultery. He says,

“If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the LORD. “Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness. That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless. Yet you say to me, ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth. Surely you won’t be angry forever! Surely you can forget about it!’ So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can.” vs 1-5

The last two verses really struck me! While reading, I was convicted of the tendency I have to drift from the truth and, even worse, to expect God to turn a blind eye, to shrug His shoulders and say, “Hey, what’s all the fuss?” God is not okay with the drift. God is not okay with sin. He knows it’s destructive nature – how it devastates. He’s so serious about putting sin to death that He sent Christ to die for ALL sin.

 God is not okay with the drift.

 6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.… Romans 5:6-8

To make light of sin is to make light of the greatest Gift ever given. Are you making light of your sin? Have you ignored the warnings? Today it’s time to forsake your sin and idols and return to Him. David got it right when he approached God about His sin and asked for forgiveness. And he sets an example for us as well.

Have mercy on me, O God,

    because of your unfailing love.

Because of your great compassion,

    blot out the stain of my sins.

Wash me clean from my guilt.

    Purify me from my sin.

For I recognize my rebellion;

    it haunts me day and night.

Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;

    I have done what is evil in your sight.

You will be proved right in what you say,

    and your judgment against me is just.[a]

For I was born a sinner—

    yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

But you desire honesty from the womb,[b]

    teaching me wisdom even there.

Purify me from my sins,[c] and I will be clean;

    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Oh, give me back my joy again;

    you have broken me—

    now let me rejoice.

Don’t keep looking at my sins.

    Remove the stain of my guilt.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

    Renew a loyal spirit within me.

Do not banish me from your presence,

    and don’t take your Holy Spirit[d] from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

    and make me willing to obey you.

Then I will teach your ways to rebels,

    and they will return to you. 

Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;

    then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.

Unseal my lips, O Lord,

    that my mouth may praise you.

You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.

    You do not want a burnt offering.

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.

    You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

PINIMAGEI talked in the beginning of this post about my experience at the seashore. Want to know something amazing? Although I couldn’t see my parents at times, they always had their eyes on me. When I would search the sand for our blanket and our umbrella I would find it and them looking back at me. In fact, at times, when I was too lost in my play, my dad would call out to me and beckon me back.

You know what? In all of the accounts I’ve read in scripture where God’s children were drifting, He was always calling them back too. Further down in chapter 3 of Jeremiah we read, My wayward children,” says the LORD, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts. Jeremiah 3:22a

Have you been drifting? Have you become numb to the dangers of sin and its devastation? God’s eye is still on you and His voice is calling you home.