Psalm 78:32-end
Revelation 3:1-6
We are all familiar with friends who like to hang around when things are going well, but seem to disappear when times get tough. They like to share in the success, but are loath to participate in lean times. God is angered by just the opposite. In the Israelites, he does not have fair-weather friends, but foul-weather friends. The Israelites live a familiar cycle. They are in deep trouble and they cry on the Lord to save them. He does. And no sooner does he save them when they say "thanks so very much, we can take it from here."
"Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. But then [once they were on their feet again] they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant." (Ps. 78:35-37).
Once the people had been restored they once again took their lives into their own hands, and soon forgot God. They did the outer observances but their hearts were not in it. They failed to keep his commandments. When things once again turned sour, they failed to remember the times that God had been there for them and doubted that God could save them. They tested him. "Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return" (vv. 38-39). We shake our heads and say "Why didn't they ever learn?" But are we any different? Things get tough--we get that diagnosis, our finances get shaky, our mate dies, our home is foreclosed and immediately God becomes our best friend. Then the problem is resolved--we make it through the treatment, the economy improves, we move beyond our grief, and we find new lodgings. Life settles back into its routine. Those long impassioned prayers are gone. Our minds drift during the worship service, we become too busy for daily devotions. "I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die for I have not found your deeds complete [they are sporadic and inconsistent] in the sight of my God. Remember therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you" (Rev. 3:1-3). God longs for consistent friends. He does not just want those who appear alive on the outside but are dead to his Spirit within. He does not want only foul-weather friends. He wants those who will love and serve him fair weather or foul--those who remember who him at all times. He will return, will he find you being his friend?
