GraceWay Baptist Church Serving Kiowa-Serving Christ

Losing Fellowship with God

It seems that I just got out of desert, only to find myself back again. Just like the Israelites in the Old Testament, I am wandering the desert aimlessly. I would die out here if it were not for God, still feeding me, still providing water when I thirst. But I no longer have the fellowship with Him that I once had, and my inability to forgive myself for not doing the things that would keep me out here in the first place seems to keep me here longer.

You would think I would know better by now, but apparently I missed the warning signs again. I get so tired of being in the world and falling prey to it. I get into work mode and before I know it, I am working overtime, not taking care of myself, feeling tired and angry, and then BANG, bondage.

Now, here I am writing an article that should enlighten and edify but, if the truth were known, I don’t feel very enlightened and as far as edifying, well I guess you’ll be the judge of that.

The really bad news is that I have a lot of company out here in the desert. One thing is for sure, you will never died of loneliness out here, but it is no place for a Christian, no place to be.

So, how did so many of us end up out here? Is it a lack of daily commitment to Christ? Do we have the wrong priorities? Are we failing to trust Christ with all the detail of our lives? Have we forgotten all that Christ has done for us both on the cross and in order daily lives? Yes, on all accounts.

We justly deserve the rebuke of Nehemiah 9:16-17a: “But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands.

“They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery.”

But yet there is hope for us inhabitants of the desert. We can take heart, Nehemiah 9:17b-19, that we have a God who loves us and pursues us no matter how lost we become: “But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.”

There is a way out—Christ. But first we need to accept that we are lost, repent and recommit to Him. It is harder getting out then it was getting in.