My Dad used to always sing a song about Mountain Dew...

            What do we do when our inspiration has flown away?  When we feel like the Lord is somehow a million miles away? What do you do? Here’s what I think I do…

I fake the funk…I keep dancing thinking that maybe I’ll hear the music eventually.

            Some of these emotions have been frequenting me recently, and they have now culminated into a somewhat concise thought.

I’ve been treating God like a cash cow or cosmic vending machine…I want to write things that inspire that encourage and in the end, things that make me read back over them and the comments left and say “wow…I’m a great writer and Jesus is so lucky to have me on his team.”

So maybe this is the reason why my inspiration has waned.  In no way am I saying that Jesus is frustrated with me for this or is repealing his favor towards me but I do think that he is letting me hit a bit of a rocky patch so that I would remember clearly that he is my first love and that I have NOTHING aside from himself and his precious grace.

In James, He likens us and our lives to wildflowers.  He says that we are similar to them because we shoot up quickly and have very beautiful moments and are in ourselves very beautiful but when the suns comes up we are scorched and we quickly wilt and fall away. 

King David says that we are like the dew of the morning…this is almost comically insulting to our egos.  “You are like the dew of the morning…YOU DON’T EVEN MAKE IT TO BREAKFAST!”

In the end, our lives are but a vapor…and THANK GOD that they are.

When my inspiration has flown and my savior feels so distant I am reminded of two things.

1.    I have to has myself the question: How much time have I spent with Jesus recently?

a.    Often my prayer-life looks much more like I’m leaving Jesus prayer voicemails rather than having an open dialogue.  

b.    Let’s say I only spoke with Amelie(my girlfriend) once a day for 5 minutes at the very end of the day and usually I fall asleep towards the end…she would not be happy.  But! This is what we do to Jesus, isn’t it? I know that I do.

2.    Throughout scripture one truth endures unquestioned…God is in pursuit of rebellious Man.  God is our faithful and pursuing redeemer and He will find us in whatever depths we’ve tried to make our beds(See Psalm 139).  When He feels distant it exposes a lack of understanding of God’s character:

a.    He is a gentleman…he will not force himself on anyone.  He loves us so much that even if, in our sin, we want to turn him down or for him to be silent, he will grant that request.  This is one of the most amazing but terrifying truths of God’s character.

In closing…God’s character is one that is ALWAYS welcoming and wooing us closer to him.

So may we draw near to him even when he feels distant because we know that we historically have always been unfaithful while his faithfulness is unwaivering.