So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Bejamin, hear me. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.”
2 Chronicles 15:2 HCSB

I’ve learned that wanting God to do things for me and be there for me tends to work a whole lot better when I am working for Him and being there with Him. We are told in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by grace through faith. It is God and God alone who saves us. We are told in James 2:2 that faith without works is dead. So, is this where the Bible contradicts itself? Absolutely not! What James is saying is if we truly have faith, we love the Lord with all our heart. When you love someone with all your heart, you want to work and do things for them, right? We want to serve Him.

For many years, I had the audacity to sin against God and cry out to Him when things went wrong. I would pray and ask Him to change others when it was me who needed to be changed. I would ask for things but give nothing in return. I would wait on Him to do things for me but do nothing more for him than an obligatory church attendance and pay my tithes. I would forsake Him to live my sinful life but then cry out to Him when that life let me down.

I found myself in relationships that were not reciprocal. I was the one doing all the giving while others did all the taking. I came to understand that I had been that way with God. With God, I had been doing all the taking while He was doing all the giving. I didn’t want to give up the things of this world, but I wanted Him to bless my bad behavior. I wanted Him to just overlook my sin. He taught me that it doesn’t work that way. He taught me that sin will take me farther than I want to go, keep me longer than I want to stay and cost more than I want to pay.

Something had to give and that something was someone, it was me. I had to give it all over to Him. For a while I would surrender when the going got tough but try to take it back when things seemed to be going well. I would give my troubles over to Him only to try to take control of them. I learned God was not going to play tug of war with me. He was not going to honor my disobedience. It was all or nothing.

I don’t know where you are in your walk with the Lord, but I do know a few things. I know if you are doing all the taking, you are going to fail. I know if you are trying to keep one foot in the world and one foot with God you are going to fall hard. I know if you are expecting Him to let you do what you want to do and give you what you want, you are kidding yourself. You are headed for a big letdown. I know I experienced all of those things.

Many people like to discount the Old Testament saying it’s history and it’s the New Testament that really matters. They feel because the New Testament has the gospel it’s the only one that matters. But I love the Old Testament because it gives us God’s commands or the Ten Commandments. It also gives many examples of people just like you and me who messed up. It shows us the victory they experience when they repent and commit their lives to God. It shows the defeat suffered by those who refused to do so.

In this Old Testament Scripture passage this prophet told the king that if he abandoned God, God would abandon him. The same holds true for us. Have you abandoned the Lord? Are you loving Him with all your heart? Are you trusting in Him? Are you obeying His commands? Or are you playing church and hoping it will all work out?

God loved us enough to send His only Son to die for us (John 3:16). He commands us to love Him with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength (Matthew 22:37). If you feel God isn’t giving His best and His all for you, ask yourself if you are giving your all to Him.

Have a great day!