Forgetting God's Promises

In reading the Bible, I've come across a few passages that struck me as odd and I wondered how so many could be so foolish. In the same moment, God revealed to me what He wanted me to share with you in explaining things so wonderfully today.

The parts of the Bible I was questioning were the Israelites and the disciples of Jesus. Both sets of people had witnessed God's amazing power in ways we can only imagine these days. Although God is still in the miracle business.

The Israelites spent 40 years wandering around in the desert when it could have taken them 11 days. Did you ever realize that? What a complete waste of 39 years plus a few months and days tossed in. So why were they so foolish and what took them so long?

They complained about everything from the food they were missing and that they were hungry so God rained down enough manna for their daily needs. Remember it was only enough for the day, not weeks and months worth. Despite this wonderful miracle, then they complained about a lack of water, which God sprang forth water from a rock.

Then it was back to the same old manna day after day, so God brought them quail. Then they complained about more water. Again God provided for them. He rescued them time after time, yet they seemed to forget what He had done for them previously. How could you forget all that?
Yet they did, and pretty soon God grew tired of their disbelief and thus the reason for the 40 years of waste in the desert when they could have been living the good life.

We have a similar story about the disciples of Jesus constantly doubting His provision when He walked among them. When they witnessed the feeding of the 5000 with a few loaves of bread and fish, they questioned him some weeks later at the feeding of the 3000. How could they question whether Jesus could feed them? Or for that matter raise the dead or heal the sick, blind or deaf?

Yet how often do we still continue to question God after He has answered previous prayers for us? Has God failed you in your previous prayers? What about healing for someone that has been answered?

Or a request for financial provisions, or bringing about the salvation of a lost soul? Or restoring a family from the brink of a complete loss?

Why do we forget how God has blessed us in the past and thus when we find ourselves in similar storms we forget how to swim? How to navigate through this storm?

Aren't we just the same as the Israelites and disciples?

In my case, the answer is a definite YES!

So how can I make sure to weather the next storm more successfully? How can I grow spiritually in my character with God?

Sure we can make sure our first response is always prayer but in order to reduce our stress levels it's important to remember our prayer histories.

I would recommend following God's promise and response to this from Deut 4:9 - "Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live."

WOW! It's instruction from God with a valid point. I believe we need to write them down and remember it all. The before's, durings and afters of our storms, trials and sufferings. It allows us in our own words to remember where we were at, how we dealt with it during the storm and how God came through in unexpected ways.

Without those recorded pieces of our own spiritual histories we are likely to repeat those same mistakes time and time again and thus find ourselves wandering around in the desert for 40 years when we could be blessed with an 11 day journey instead and growing in our character instead of wallowing in our stress.

I, myself, am creating a storm journal not just a prayer one, because it's through our storms that develop our faith and character. The most important thing I can do is to be honest through the entire storm so I can look back and find my low moments and see just how I got through them. Hopefully it will help me to look back and see just how God has never failed me in my deepest moments of my life but brought me to the mountain tops to see the valley I just walked through.

Please let me know how this impacted you or your thoughts on this post. I am hoping that it blesses you in the many ways it blessed me today.