Taking God for granted

It is not uncommon to us to be familiar with what we have whether it be people, things, accomplishments, etc. We are people of routine, we do not like change and so we would go the extra mile to ensure our habits are not altered. This kind of attitude has made change management difficult to accomplish well in organisations and in general. Unfortunately, the drawback with familiarity is that it endangers growth. In fact, with familiarity comes comfortability, ease, and the idea of taking what we have for granted. This is something God warns us of in the bible when it comes to knowing Him and His ways. God does not want us to take Him for granted, nor become familiar with Him to the point that we forget to honour Him and give Him the glory and praise that is due His name. The bible makes it clear that God’s ways are not our ways and that as the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways higher than ours (Isaiah55:8-9) which means this is not a being we should take for granted or think we have “figured out”.

In any relationship, when someone is being taken for granted, there is no more “spark” to the relationship. Whatever the person being taken for granted does is not recognized, it is not noticed, it is not appreciated because it has become normal and expected. Moreover, there is no incentive to getting to know the person again or discover something new about them because you think you know them all. That is precisely what we should avoid at all cost in any relationship but particularly with our relationship with God. In Malachi 1, the Lord rebukes the Israelites for taking Him for granted, they had started offering poor sacrifices to the Lord, sacrifices they would not even offer their own governors! The disdain and contempt they were showing God was exceptional and I believe this was a by-product of familiarity and taking God for granted. They believed God was their God and they were the people of God to whom the Law had been given. Plus, their God was a merciful one so they thought they could get away with anything. This pride, this way of elevating themselves above God is simply an effect of not growing because they believed they had the knowledge about God. May we never get to a point where we think we do not have anything else to learn about God, there is no plateau that should be ours when it comes to knowing God.

Unlike any other relationship that we have that starts on equal ground, meaning that the people that are in the relationship all have equal standing, our relationship with God is not one where we are at the same level. God is God and we are not. We depend on Him, He does not. We move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28), He does not. We were made alive in Him (Ephesians 2:5), He was not. We need to learn from Him, He does not. A God that is so mighty and powerful cannot be taken for granted because as the bible tells us His wisdom is manifold (Ephesians 3:10). We can therefore never be too familiar with the ways of God in our lives that we fail to recognize His power, His wisdom, His strength. Indeed, we must cultivate our desire to know Him more and more, being constantly seeking Him in His word. We should ask the Holy Spirit for a fresh desire to know God more and not take the work He has done in our lives for granted. Failing to do so will see our spiritual growth diminish; we will stop to pray; we will stop to renew our minds; we will lean on our own understanding instead of on God’s (Proverbs 3:5). The bible tells us that we will be spending eternity to know Him in other words it will take eternity to discover more of Him so why would we want to take this God for granted? Why reduce Him to what our little minds can take? The Israelites did that and it led them to sin, they started deviating from the word of God and the consequences only brought death. Ours is the submission, His is the glory. We must learn to honour God as He should be honoured.

So then, whenever you hear about God or read about Him in the bible, do not be quick to dismiss what you have heard even when the story is a familiar one. Instead, constantly approach His word humbly, like it is a fresh word, like a new word. Do not fall into the trap of thinking to yourself that you know it and you have heard it a thousand times therefore you do not need to be taught anything further about it. This will only kill your desire and hunger for the word and the things of God. I pray the Holy Spirit shows us where we have taken God for granted in our lives. May we repent for it and receive the grace to see Him afresh every day. Amen.