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The Dangers of Drifting

By Crickettt

Drifting away from God is a dangerous choice to make, especially when we examine what happened to the people of Israel after Moses led them out of bondage from Egypt and after they reached the promise land God had given them. 

Read Nehemiah 9:5-38, it sums up the whole story concerning the Israelites from their first trusting in God’s guidance to doubting, grumbling, idolatry and drifting away into disobedience and sin.  As long as they were following after God completely in total obedience, He blessed them and destroyed their enemies from before them.  However, as they drifted and fell into sin and disobedience, they eventually turned their face away from God and He allowed their enemies to attack.  Nehemiah tells how the people of Israel became arrogant and stubborn and would not listen to God’s commandments any longer.  They did not listen or remember God’s wondrous deeds He performed among them while they wondered 40 years in the wilderness. God took care of them miraculously and their clothes never wore out, nor did their feet swell.  The Lord led them out with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  He sent manna from heaven to feed them and water from a rock to quench their thirst. God did all this and much more to show His great love, compassion and faithfulness in fulfilling His promise to them.   Later, after they possessed the land, the Lord had promised them, they forgot God again and rebelled against Him and cast His law behind their backs.  They killed His prophets who had admonished them and also committed great blasphemies.  Therefore, God handed them over to their oppressors.  He abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over the Israelites for years.  Finally, they “opened their eyes” and cried out to God for help.  God, out of His great loving kindness and compassion, would rescue them over and over again. This repetitive behavior of sinning and repenting by the Israelites would continue and each time they became arrogant and defiant against God, He allowed their enemies to capture and rule over them.  You would think they could see the truth and not want to rebel against God after He saved them so many times from destruction and performed miracles before them.

In verse 33, Nehemiah acknowledges to God that He is just in His punishments.  “However, You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly.”  Nehemiah recognizes that with drifting, great consequences come to those who ignore God’s warning and sin anyway.  He describes the goodness of God’s character in verse 17: “….But, You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; and You did not forsake them.”  Even when the Israelites knew God’s commandments and the truth in His Word, they still forsook the God who loved them and wanted to take care of them.  You can see clearly that God blessed them when they obeyed and followed after Him and allowed disasters to fall upon them when they ignored Him and turned away. Drifting causes us to fall away into sin.  Idolatry is anything we allow to become more important to us than God and His Word.  In Exodus 20, the first commandment of God from the 10 Commandments He gave to Moses says, “You shall have no other gods before Me”. Putting God first was so important to Him that He made it priority over all the commandments He gave to Moses for the people of Israel and future generations of the world to obey.  When we choose to stay in God’s Word and walk according to His commands, He promises in Psalm 91, protection, rescue and love for those who desire to know Him and obey. However, the wicked will perish and be destroyed in their sin. 

So, lets look at several warning signs of how you can tell when you are drifting from God?

1. You start losing interest in God’s Word. Everything else seems to become more important to you than reading your Bible.
2. Your prayer life changes and you neglect to pray. You get too wrapped up in the world around you and stop calling out to God in prayer.
3. You stop desiring to go to church or meeting together with other Christians.
4. You stop tithing and giving of your time to help others. You no longer give the tithe that rightfully belongs to God or reach out to help others in need.
5. You lose touch with God and do not have a close relationship with him any longer.
6. Ministering to others about Jesus is not a priority anymore. You become busy in your own day to day living and miss opportunities to share the love of Christ with those around you who are lost and hurting.
7. You allow the hurt and confusion from unanswered prayer, become the reason why you drifted away from God. God always has a plan, purpose and timing for all things.  It is up to us to keep praying, believing and trusting that God’s Will is done in everything.
8. You start listening and believing in what everyone else says instead of what God says about it. You just stop listening to God. He is always speaking and guiding you through His Holy Spirit.  You will hear His voice if you search Him with all your heart.  

I want to encourage you to set your mind on seeking and knowing God for Who He is. Learn about His character and His promises to you by reading His Word every day.  Put Him first in your life because, as a Father and Creator of all things, He greatly desires to have a relationship with each of His children. When you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you.  If you think you are drifting from God, “STOP” and reach out to Him; He already knows your heart and is waiting for you to come back from drifting.