Forgetting/Being Complacent
1Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
-Psalm 103:1-5
I have come to dislike the word “busy”. So many things want our attention. I go to a job that demands my attention most of the day. I feel like I am trying to resolve problems all day. For many years, I have found that I became complacent in my daily walk with God. I have always known that God can do the impossible. It was rare that I repeated prayer requests because I felt like I did not have to say it again. God already knew so what was the point of repeating it again? It wasn’t because I didn’t care but because I was confident in what God was doing to do so there was no need to worry or fret about it. I also found that God would be on my mind but there were days when I would lay in bed and think, “I didn’t really talk to God today.” and I would have a conversation with him before I drifted off to sleep. Was God satisfied with that? Maybe but I was in His shoes, I may be a little miffed. I am sure He was too. Being a patient and grace-filled God, I can see Him waiting until the next day hoping that I would come and sit to have a chat with Him. Do you ever experience this scenario? I know I am not alone. We can easily generate a list of things that demand our attention. Just went you have a moment to have that chat with your Creator something else grabs your attention. Over the last couple of months things have gotten a little crazy with my job and I find that instead of being grateful for my employer, it has become a battle.
When a life-changing event happens in our lives, it not only changes our daily lives but it makes us look at our spiritual health. Over the last couple of years I have had a lot of time to re-evaluate my life and my walk with Christ. As I have said in past posts, “Do I wish I did not have MS?”, the answer would be ‘NO’. Even though the disease has done its damage on my body, I have met a lot of people in the process that were at the end of their “hope rope”. I have been able to encourage people and know what to say because of my personal experiences. I find that my confidence in God has grown in a way that instead of shying away from people in certain situations, now I seek them out because I want to pray for them and with them and be an encouragement.
But lately I have realized the reality of the battle of spiritual forces wanting my attention. Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Yesterday I was exchanging a text with a Sister in Christ and I was telling her that “I am so grateful that God stopped my MS and I am confident that He will spark my body to repair itself. But I worry that I will get complacent (like we humans do) and I will forget to thank Him/praise Him for what He has done. Right now it's still new (halting of the disease) but I have had moments where I had to stop and be sure that I gave Him praise because I couldn't remember if I did that morning.” It is like anything that will keep me from seeing the good, from praising our Creator, hits me at every angle.
As It says in this Psalm, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,”. May I always praise Him for all that he has done.
