Sometimes God is silent. His timing is not our timing. His ways are not the way we would have chosen. We don’t understand what he is doing. We look around and see things only getting worse, and wonder where is God in all of this.

What are you doing in this waiting? What are you doing in this silence? Have you began seeking something you can see because you still can’t see God in this?

God wants to talk to us today about how we use him when we need him, then forget him when we get it. How we give up on the unseen and crave what we can see. How we are so quick to settle for anything, instead of waiting on God’s best.

Have you backsliden from something greater to something so much less? Did God bring you here for a purpose, but now in the hardship of it all, you’ve sought what is easiest, fastest, more guaranteed? Girl, have you traded God’s great plans that were taking a long time, for these immediate plans you could throw together yourself, and now you’re wondering why you feel so unfulfilled?

God had brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, and into freedom on their way to a Promised Land. He had done impossible things for them every step of the way. He had parted the Red Sea for them to cross on dry land, then brought the walls of water back down on their enemies to wipe them out. He had provided water from a rock. He had rained down food in the middle of a desert. They had literally been living from the hand of God, in total and complete dependence upon him.

But now, they had what they needed. Every day they had this food. Every day they had this water. Every day there enough provisions for them, and eventually it became ordinary.

Isn’t it amazing how what you have today is what you once prayed for. And isn’t it amazing how it’s all become just ordinary now. You likely didn’t wake up in this house you prayed for at one point, with sheer giddiness today that you still get to be here. Why is that?

Remember when there was that health crisis within your family and you weren’t sure if they were going to make it through. And there they are, alive and well in your house today as if it’s all so normal. You swore you would never take another day with them for granted, but it kinda looks like you might be.

You didn’t know how in the world you were going to make it through what you were going through back then. Only God could get you through. Only God could make it happen. And he did. You made it through. But now it’s just normal to wake up on the other side of that chaos, forgetting all God did on your behalf to bring you here.

God did it, but have you forgotten?

You know what would be so good for your soul today … just take a moment to go back over all God has done for you and tell him thank you. Spend a few minutes reviewing all of his power required to bring you to what is now just normal and ordinary for you. Just because you got what you needed from him, don’t forget him now.

The Israelites had forgotten. God had done so much for them, but all these miraculous daily provisions had become their new normal, and they forgot God when they got it. This failure to remember, failure to recognize, and failure to remain grateful, led to ultimate chaos and destruction. Don’t let this be you!

On their journey, they had come to Mount Sinai, where God called their leader, Moses, to come to the top of the mountain while the people remained down below. After a few weeks had passed, the people grew restless at the bottom of the mountain. They wanted to SEE what God was doing. They had grown so accustom to a continual hand feeding from God under the leadership of Moses, they became impatient, needy and ungrateful.

And here we are, continually hand fed by God. We just don’t realize it. We forget that our entire world would come crashing down in an instant (literally), if God removed his hand from us for even a moment. If gravity ceased because God’s hand no longer held everything in place, we would experience immediate destruction. Yet, here we are spinning on this little round rock, flying through the atmosphere at 67,000 miles per hour, perfectly suspended in this infinite space, and it’s become so normal we failed to even thank God for it today. Instead we’re sitting in the middle of countless miracles, demanding he prove he’s working in our lives.

God, do something! And God says, “I am and I always have been. I’m just so good at it, you think it’s normal now.”

Lord, don’t let us become impatient. Don’t let us become needy. Don’t let us become ungrateful. That is NOT who you designed us to be. That is not the life we are here to live!

So here the Israelites are, sitting at the bottom of this mountain, and their leader had gone up to talk to their God, but all this time had passed and he hadn’t come back down. So, they have a brilliant idea. They turn to Aaron, who was left in charge while Moses was on the mountain meeting with God, and they say in Exodus 32: 1 ““Come, make us gods[who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

They were no longer satisfied with a God they couldn’t see who had done countless miraculous things to save them, protect them, guide them, and provide for them. They were tired of waiting at this mountain where supposedly things were happening on the top where they couldn’t go, on a God (captial G) they couldn’t see. So, they demanded a god (little g) they can see.

After 40 days, Moses comes down from the mountain where God had given him the 10 commandments on two tablets of stone, and he finds his people dancing naked around a golden statue of a cow. A freaking cow! As if a cow was responsible for parting the Red Sea. As if a cow had led them by a pillar of fire at night and cloud by day. As if a cow had brought them water and mana from Heaven. It was their new god (little g).

But it’s what we do when we grow tired of waiting. When our need to SEE something overrides our faith in the unseen.

I can’t trust God is going to help me control my thoughts and calm my stress, I must drink this instead.
I can’t trust God is going to meet my needs, I must hoard everything I have and give nothing to anyone else.
I can’t trust God is going to supernaturally guide me, I must ask everyone else what they think.
I can’t trust God is going to bring me something or someone better, so I’m holding on to what I know isn’t good for me.
I can’t trust God is going to get me through this, I must apply my own fret and worry to the situation.

I can see this glass of wine. I can see the money in my bank account. I can see all my broken friends that give me crap advice that make me feel better about my own life. I can see my feet pacing this floor. I can see that person filling this space when I don’t want to be alone.

Oh honey, you can see it, but has it replaced the unseen who is responsible for your very life?

Lord, what have I been clinging to in place of you? Who have I put in your position? Where have I placed my hope that is anything other than you?

That is my golden calf. That is my god (little g). And make no mistake about it, GOD (capital G) WILL DESTROY THAT IDOL!

Read the story for yourself in Exodus 32. Complete chaos and destruction was brought upon the people who sought something they could see right now, over the unseen power of God they grew tired of waiting on.

I know you’re tired of waiting. I know you’re tired of this uncertainty. But hasn’t God provided here? Hasn’t he been faithful? Don’t be tricked into settling for the lesser things you can see right now, and trade the greater things from the hands of the unseen.

God is here. He is working. He hears you. He cares for you. His power is in motion all around you. He has good plans for you and those plans will not fail. He is in every detail concerning you. And honey, just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening!

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com