"Ungratefully Gifted"

"Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: but turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were tuned aside like a deceitful bow." (Psalms 78:56-57) You have to understand something about free stuff, it is seldom appreciated; and it is hardly ever paid back! Never mind that there were untold multitudes of people that were killed, because the children of Israel participated in their destruction; we are talking about the land, more than anything else, the land is what God promised; and He made good on His promise. Had God removed the people who dwelt in the land prior to letting His children occupy it, it would have been overrun with wild beasts and would have not been cared for. It was bound to happen, only because they were fallen people; they might have been God's chosen people, but they were His chosen fallen people. I see the land of Canaan a lot like our life in these temporary bodies; there is so much potential to be blessed and cared for by God, yet there are so many things in our flesh that make us unfaithful and turn us aside. God has provided everything we need to defeat the enemy, to live victoriously, and to honor all that He has done for us with appreciation and love, but we always are turning back. It might not seem like it at first, because usually our turning back is subtle and happens in stages; but the way things are described in this example above, you would have to think it happened instantly and overnight. The writer points out that "they were turned aside like a deceitful bow," almost as if they were still in the hands of God, and yet they slapped Him in the face; much like a bow might do to the archer, had it broken while he was using it. But don't you think that is true to our nature? If you think about it, we all have this same capacity to be prideful and to take credit for things that God should get the credit for, only because we participated in whatever God made to happen. As if we could have figured it out on our own! There is no way we could have planned anything of the sort; mostly because nothing comes from all mountaintop experiences, and we would never plan to go through the valley and the storm. The bow is broke because it is broken! But God is not done with it yet! God does not throw the bow away and get a new one! God is the Master Archer, don't you know...
"The LORD said to Moses, "You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they will be devoured. Terrible trouble will come down on them, and on that day they will say, 'These disasters have come down on us because God is no longer among us!' At that time I will hide my face from them on account of all the evil they commit by worshiping other gods. So write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them. For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors -a land flowing with milk and honey. They will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant. And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants. I know the intentions of these people, even now before they enter the land I swore to give them."" (Deuteronomy 31:16-21) NLT