Whatever You Do, Don't Turn Your Back

As I look back over the giants of faith, all had one thing in common: neither victory nor success, but passion...God's favorites responded with passion in kind. Moses argued with God so fervently that several times he persuaded God to change plans. Jacob wrestled all night and used trickery to grab hold of God's blessing. Job lashed out in rage against God. David broke at least half the Ten Commandments. Yet never did they wholly give up on God, and never did God give up on them. God can handle anger, blame, and even willful disobedience. One thing, however, blocks relationship: indifference. "They turned their backs to me and not their faces," God told Jeremiah, in a damning indictment of Israel.

From the spiritual giants of the Bible, I learn this crucial lesson about relating to an invisible God: Whatever you do, don't ignore God. Invite God into every aspect of life.

For some Christians, the times of Job-like crisis will represent the greatest danger. How can they cling to faith in a God who appears unconcerned and even hostile? Others, and I count myself among them, face a more subtle danger. An accumulation of distractions--a malfunctioning computer, bills to pay, an upcoming trip, a friend's wedding, the general busyness of life--gradually edges God away from the center of my life. Some days I meet people, eat, work, make decisions, all without giving God a single thought. And that void is far more serious than what Job experienced, for not once did Job stop thinking about God.

~ Philip Yancey,

May 29 in Grace Notes

They say to wood, "You are my father,"

and to stone, "You gave me birth."

They have turned their backs to me

and not their faces;

yet when they are in trouble, they say,

"Come and save us!"

~ Jeremiah 2:27

They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.

~ Jeremiah 32:33