Oh, what weak, stupid and wretched creatures we are!

We prefer to drink from conveniently nearby yet broken and polluted cisterns to satiate our nagging thirst, rather than making the harder walk out into the desert and going directly to drink from that heavenly oasis, which harbours the very source of the purist, most delicious, most thirst quenching LIVING waters, that endlessly flow out from a divine well spring, which abundantly overflows out into all the dry places, flowing freely to heal, nourish and replenish all who partake in it. No. We would rather get blind drunk day after day on the cheapest, nastiest, strongest liquor like miserable, stinking, filthy tramps, attempting to forget our many sorrows for a little while in a pity party of rebellious ignorance, rather than dressing in the right attire that’s fit for a very important wedding, where we can responsibly enjoy and benefit from the finest and most expensively luxurious of all delicious wines that any soul could ever hope to taste. You see, corruption seems to taste better to a soul still in the dark, and the world sells that kind of polluted beverage by the gallon. Yes, incredibly, we would rather pay top dollar for toxic ‘energy drinks’, believing that stimulants like caffeine mixed into the deathly potion is the only fuel we need to get through the day! Yet, in our ignorance, we neglect to drink the wholesome, free waters of energising grace that would cleanse and detox our souls, where we would find a health and strength that only those awakened to the Spirit would ever thirst for. And strangely, even THEY pine for the polluted waters when they lose sight of the oasis for a time. Shame on us.

Not only do we thirst, but we hunger. Yet we prefer to gorge ourselves on rotten, bacteria consumed food waste, taking our pickings from between the used nappies, condoms and floor sweepings out from the filthy trash can of worldliness, thinking we are filling ourselves completely by its all consuming amusements, rather than making the effort to go to the finest (yet most humble looking) bakery in existence to eat the freshest, most fulfilling Bread, literal manna from heaven, where even one bite from the loaf that’s well digested can sustain one’s energy for a lifetime of hard toil and stress. No; we’d rather feast our eyes on the poison laced junk food of satanic entertainment, craving the short lived, tooth rotting sugar fix. We’d prefer to lap up lies like a dog licking up vomit, because we think it’s more palatable than facing hard truths that are difficult to swallow, yet are truths that nourish and heal our beings like a bitter medicine. Why do you doubt that the Great Shepherd can lead His sheep into the lushest pastureland? Surely He can, yet the sheep want to break out of the fold and search endlessly in the concrete cities for better pasture. Shall we not banquet on the fruit of His word like starving famine victims? It seems to not be so, for the colours and comedy of satan’s latest releases are often more attractive to us. We’d rather scroll mindlessly through a cesspit of frivolity for hours and hours, believing we spend our time wisely, than spend well spent time searching in more hidden, yet ‘greener’ places for that elusive wisdom we all subconsciously crave. Shame on us.

In our endless lust for security, fun, pleasure and gratification, we search out in other finite beings for the ultimate completion of satisfaction, relying on those whom we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell to fulfil that strong drive and innate need to go one higher in worshipful orgasmic zenith, always on the lookout and desiring to gratify our endless lustful hunt for that ULTIMATE climax. It manifests in us on different levels, from a chocolate buzz to craving a luxurious bath in a 5 star penthouse suite. Of course, our God given desire for sexual intimacy and fulfilment is exploited by the enemy, and we remain completely unaware and forgetful that the Creator of the human sex drive, even our very skin that yearns for such sensual touch, and Originator of the mystery of orgasm is the ONLY one who truly knows how to give the full satisfaction and ecstasy we are all secretly craving from each other and from ‘things’. Why then do we not seek the Source, the Completer, the Author and Finisher of our deepest desires? No, we so often would rather continue to seek fulfilment from the flesh, and not the Spirit, for it is easier and more instantly gratified. Shame on us.

In our need for security and comfort, in our own strength, we tend to spend our lives endlessly striving very hard to make our barns as full as possible, and then in greed, making them even fuller. Then we build more barns, because like hoarders, we place great value on ‘potentiality’, and we secretly fear the future. We seek to gain even when it’s at the expense of others, daily giving up our sweat and sleep offerings to that slave-driving god called Mammon, in the hope that he might bless us with such an abundance and excess that we feel we can rely on the illusion that on some future day we will never have to worry or work again. We hope we’ll be able to retire early, play golf every day, and go on three luxury cruises a year. In our faithlessness, we forget to be thankful for the provision of our daily bread, the provision that comes in the ‘now’. Manna was only good for a day; it rotted and tasted bad if it was kept any longer. We often say with our mouths that we trust in Him to cater for our every need, but we all maintain an insurance in case He doesn’t, because if we’re honest, we place more faith in material security than in the spiritual. We little realise that we were CREATED to work hard alongside the Lord, finding a great joy and peace we may never have otherwise known in it; in our insecurity, we miss the daily process of completely trusting Him, combined with getting our hands dirty for the kingdom, which is all part of the rest and satisfaction in life that we are really looking for. Indeed, the Sabbath can be found at any time during the middle of any week’s flurry of activity; His rest is ever present to the soul that knows Him in the secret place, yet the tendency to selfishly ‘do’ rather than selflessly ‘abide’ produces a different kind of inedible fruit. When all is taken away, what remains? Our money and assets will perish with this flesh, yet we much rather seek the perishable than the spiritual riches of the kingdom. 
We want comfort and luxury to bring relief to the spiritual insomnia of our souls, yet we do not realise that it’s even in the midst of great suffering that one can know the heavenly peace that brings the ultimate of rests, the peace we are all actually looking for. No, instead we prefer to pander to the flesh and neglect the spirit, all to live out its remaining earthly time to what seems in our eyes like ‘the fullest’, disregarding the motives of insecurity, lack of trust in God and unholy fear driving us from within. Shame on us.

During those times of wandering through spiritual wastelands, when loved ones are abruptly taken, when we’ve been betrayed, when our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, when the needed healing doesn’t come even after years of petition, when we might lose all our assets in a terrible fire or maybe when our very lives are threatened by evil men who want to torture and murder us; in our torment we would rather go to human ‘psychologists’ to attempt pacify and soothe our turmoil and unrest. In spiritual blindness, we tend to look for an alternative, rather than getting even more introspective to our own spiritual condition. We look for the easy escape route, the path of least resistance. Like the world, we might even anger at He who sovereignly causes all things; we might turn away from Him, desperately disappointed; bitter. We might think that if He could leave us in this situation, FORSAKE us even, that He is certainly unworthy of any more attention or honour. ‘How could HE do this to ME?’, we are tempted to think. Yet we forget that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near unto us. We forget we are always being ‘sifted as wheat’, that the higher our calling, the higher the testing. A prosperous, rich family man called Job knew of what I speak of. His complaints of his treatment were eventually heard, but were not directly answered; he eventually learned not to question the Lord’s wisdom by the end of it. Godly men of old, who were also intimately acquainted with deep grief, pain and loss, wrote many poetic songs to encourage the rest of us to continue to seek the Lord in such pits of despair, for they knew that HIS presence is the ONLY remedy for a broken spirit, which can only ever be administered by the Great Physician of our souls; yet there are so many of us believers today who find more comfort, solace and help in chocolate ice-cream, anti-depressants and pain pills, than in the spiritual healing balm of such ancient, powerfully holy words. We also forget the powerful influence of our eternal enemy in such times, even possibly coming into agreement with them as they try our faith and defame the character of God before our eyes, allowing them to inspire faithlessness, and stealing away our hope. In sun scorched lands where grass is scarce, it’s all too easy to forsake the Shepherd and wander off, believing there to be greener pastures elsewhere. Shame on us.

If we’re honest with ourselves, many of us believers in Christ still seek glory in and from this world. We may want to be the best singer or sportsman. We may want to hold a world record, or travel stylishly around the earth to catch bigger and better fish. We may want to be respected. We may all strive hard to be recognised by our peers as ‘nice’ people, at all costs keeping a ‘status quo’. We may long for a large family of our own, and a decent enough job to year after year pay all the bills of a nice house in a nice part of town. We may want a decent enough car so that the people living next door won’t laugh at us; we may want a wardrobe of nice clothes to show off good taste, and be cool with the ‘in crowd’. We shyly forget of our looming crucifixion; we tend to ignore the potential cost of following the Shepherd, giving Him lip service that we are prepared to even die for Him, then, like Peter, making a cockerel crow twice when our time comes. The pied piper pipes his bewitching tunes to all the children living on earth, day after day, night after night. He controls the airwaves with his melody. He easily leads us to covet shiny, sparkly stuff; the more expensive, the better. His tunes lead us through all the streets of Hamlyn, gathering the masses, out across the bridge towards a different city, away from our mother’s and father’s protectively watchful eyes. He doesn’t want us to stop and read divinely inspired literature, written by those who came from a simpler, more wholesome time, wisdom written by those who had far less distractions away from the path to holiness and grace than those bedazzled by the piper. The piper continues to pipe his hypnotic tunes, catching even the elect up into the ecstatic moments of melody, making us momentarily forget our troubles, commitments and responsibilities. Like a master pest controller, he actually treats us like rats, like pests that need exterminating, yet we are suckered in because the poisoned food he lays as bait tastes just TOO good. Must we end up like the prodigal son, in a far away land, envying the food of pigs whilst our own tummy rumbles with the lack of nourishment that such squander of inheritance and family rebellion causes? Shame on us.

The Father is calling us home, waiting to kill the fattened calf He has prepared in the hope of a return from His lost offspring.

Will we forsake the world, or the Father?