Don’t Grow Weary of God
Key Verse to Read and Treasure
All things ae full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing (Ecclesiastes 1:8, ESV)
For Insight
I love chicken and seafood. My favorite meals usually include one of these. My husband likes chicken but I love it, so consequently he mostly gets chicken! We have a funny memory shaped around chicken. Not long ago we were preparing for an out-of-state move and had to make sure we ate through everything in the freezer so nothing would go to waste. We were doing pretty well with that. Until we got to the last few weeks and meals. Pretty soon my husband learned there was no point in asking me what was for dinner because my answer would be the same: chicken. We had every kind of chicken one could prepare: roasted, sautéed, grilled, air-fried, in casseroles over rice, in pastry. If you could make it with chicken we had it. Once we had completed our move, and made our transition to our new home, as much as we once loved/liked chicken, we could not bring ourselves to even mention chicken. We are just now getting back to eating chicken regularly.
As good as chicken is, as much as I love chicken, I could never have imagined growing weary of it. As good as God is it’s hard to believe anybody would grow weary of His goodness but the Israelites often did. Solomon even wrote that we would also. Unfortunately, its human nature to long for new and different. Sometimes we make changes just for change’s sake and not because there is any great benefit to it. Because we long for new and different we rebel in our heart against the sameness God presents to us.
When the Israelites did this they turned to other gods and turned their back on the God who was faithful to them, had delivered them from slavery and captivity, watched over them, supplied their needs, healed and protected them. Of course, they also discovered new or different does not automatically mean better. God had to remind them of this more times than we or they can count. The lessons were hard and there were always consequences that followed.
Where in life have you felt the need for new or different? Have you ever had that longing when it comes to your walk of faith? Sometimes people become what we call “church-hoppers.” Going from church to church in search of something new and different to spice up their worship life. This can be dangerous especially if they have not prayed for wisdom and done proper research. They might not know it’s much easier to pray for their pastor or shepherd to preach a new, more powerful and inspiring word, or for their own heart to become new and refreshed with fresh faith like they first had instead of looking for it elsewhere.
The Devil is very good at making us long for something new, convincing us that God’s ways tire or weary us and that he (the Devil) can offer us something new and exciting. The only way to combat this is to turn to God even more. To draw closer to His covenant more than ever, to praise God for His sameness, for His goodness that doesn’t disappoint or let us down.
We don’t need anything new, just pray to renew our own heart of faith on God.
Praying Ecclesiastes 1:8
Jesus, I will learn to recognize when my heart begins to yearn for something new or different just for newness sake. I pray, don’t let me go off on a tangent, or down a path just because its new or different. Keep me where I need to be: in the loving care of the Father, full of praise and glorifying Him. Amen
Challenge
When you start to feel that longing for something new or different take time to pray, asking for wisdom, guidance and patience to wait on God’s direction.
Digging Deeper
Devotionally Yours 