Sometimes people find themselves out in the cold in their relationship with God. How did this happen? I used to have a good relationship with God. Can I recover? Psalm 78 showing the way of the Israelites will give us some insight on how this happens.

1. We refuse to live by God’s covenant and laws. When we start to bend the rules, make excuses for our actions that are not in alignment with God’s standards, the downhill fall begins. Because we become so set in our own reasoning and perspective, we forget what God has done for us—his blessings, wonders, his mercy and kindness.
   
   
2. We begin depending on our own understanding. Here, rebellion sets in our hearts because we believe we know better than God. We start demanding things from Him because we want it a certain way. Although God promises provision, we want it our way. He promises healing, we want it our way. He promises protection, we want it our way. The Israelites demanded meat and challenged God to provide it.
   
   
3. We are brought down low because of our arrogance. Because of our rebellion and refusal to live according to his design, we fall to depths of hardship. Unfortunately, rather than repenting, we begin flattering God, and thinking that saying the right things to him is going to rectify the situation. Our loyalty is then phony or at best very thin.
   
   
4. In this state, we continue to harass God with petty things. We accuse him of not answering prayer, not rescuing us, being far away, and even abandoning us.
   
   
5. Our heart turns to idolatry. When we abandon God, we begin to worship other gods, or make things gods. As long as we are worshipping another god of any kind, we will not be able to fulfill our destiny. Unless we repent, God will have to choose someone else to carry the standard and reap the blessings of our destiny so his will can be done.
   
   
6. In the Bible, the tribe of Ephriam was on this downhill fall and never recovered so God chose Judah to carry the standard to produce the Messiah. Fortunately for us, we can repent at any stage of the fall and be restored to our destiny and the blessings that go with it. If you see yourself in any stage of sliding downhill, repent today and let the Lord restore you.