Relationships and return

Today is our 23rd day in our journey through Lent. I'm glad you're here.

Day 23

Have you ever had a relationship "go bad"? Someone you were once close to now seems distant, cut-off, disinterested?

It can be so hard and hurtful to have a friendship fail, especially if we don't know why it happened, or when there's no hope of reconciliation.

But there is also such joy in facing the person, finding out what went wrong, and making right if you possibly can. A friendship restored is like a double gift!

In today's Bible passage, the people of Israel went through similar emotions in their relationship with the Lord.

1 Samuel 7: 3 - 4 ...

Samuel told them, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths that are among you, dedicate yourselves to the Lord, and worship only Him. Then He will rescue you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths and only worshiped the Lord.

The context of today's Bible passage was that the Israelites had turned away from worshipping God, and had instead fallen into idol worship. As a result, they had been defeated in battle by the Philistines, who had also carried away the Ark of the Covenant as the spoils of war.

Through the prophet Samuel, the people of Israel plead with the Lord to return His favour to them. They felt that the Lord had abandoned them, or turned His back on them, but the reality was that they had turned from Him, in order to follow other gods!

I'm willing to guess that, like me, you've had similar moments in your life? Times when we've stepped away from God for some reason or another, making something or someone else the center of our lives. And as a result, our relationship with God was pushed to the side.

But our Bible passage today reassures us that we can return to God. and when we do, God will deliver and restore us.

And unlike trying to repair human relationships, returning to God is the easiest decision you can make, because God has never left our side! Just like with the Israelites, we left His. But the good news is, we can return to God.

However, like Samuel explained to the people of Israel, when we return to God we have to reprioritise what’s important, and let go of the things that aren't.

For the Israelites, their replacement for God was Baal and Ashtoreth. For us in 2023, our replacements might be social media, work, addiction, or even food.

Not all of these things are necessarily bad, but if anything creates a wedge between us and God, we have to let it go.

The Lenten season is an opportunity for us to take inventory of what might be in the way of our connection to God. Fasting quiets the noise and distractions of the world and heightens our spiritual senses.

Giving up those things that dominate our time and our appetites gives us the ability and "headspace" to think more clearly, and allows the Lord more space to speak to us.

Thankfully, we have the promise of deliverance and redemption through our covenant relationship with the Father. God is the same God He was yesterday, He will be the same God today, and He is the same God tomorrow.

"It is a blessing that His love remains constant even when ours waivers." (Dharius Daniels)

Today let's reflect on our choices, our decisions, and the things in our lives that might be compromising our commitment. Let's remove anything that might be in the way of God having our whole heart.