Speaking of Life 5047 | Acknowledging God’s Faithfulness
Cara Garrity
Last year I adopted two golden retriever puppies, Bumi and Zuko. One of the most endearing things they do is greet me with all their excitement when I return home. They’ll run up to me wagging their tails, then run around looking for toys to bring me. Sometimes I’ll even let them be a little naughty and jump on me in their excitement.
On the flip side of their warm welcomes home, they struggled for many months whenever I left. Sometimes they would bark for up to ten minutes after I left the house before they settled down. Bumi would even start whining and barking if I walked into the other room. They became anxious when they couldn’t see me. It took them some time for them to learn that I would always return – I will never abandon them.
There is a story in the book of Exodus where Moses goes up to Mt. Horeb to meet with God. It seems to the Israelites that Moses is taking his sweet time and so they start to grow restless. Perhaps, something has happened to him, they wonder.
In the 106th Psalm, the psalmist writes a song about this, highlighting the failure of the Israelites to trust God, despite all that he had previously done for them.
At Horeb they made a calf and worshipped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. Psalms 106:19-22
Rather than waiting for Moses to return, the Israelites decided to take matters into their own hands. They created a false image of God and his character rather than trusting in God’s unchanging continual care for them.
In times of uncertainty, we can become anxious. We may be tempted to trust in things that we find around us to give us comfort. We look to created things rather than to our Creator for hope and meaning but our true comfort comes from Christ and his continual commitment to us.
Have you possibly fashioned idols in your life while growing impatient in seeing God work in and through you?
Remember when God has shown himself faithful to you. Where you have seen his provision, his grace, and his deliverance from difficult circumstances.
Return to these altars as memorials that the Father sees you, he sees Christ in you, and you in Christ. You never have to fear his return as he has promised to never leave you in the first place, but promises to live with you, and in you, by his Spirit.
Go ahead, feel elated, and jump up on the Master of your soul. Let him know how glad you are to know that you can trust in his continual faithfulness.
I’m Cara Garrity, Speaking of Life.
