“So, you, by the help of your God, return,
hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.”
– Hosea 12:6 (ESV)

“Why are we playing so lousy?” That’s the question I muttered to myself as I stood on the sidelines watching my team’s performance. Unforced errors, silly mistakes and a lack of focus were allowing an inferior opponent to stay in the game. As I squirmed and shook my head, I was getting more and more frustrated with every play. I realized that I had allowed myself to become spoiled by the past success of the team. We had been winning and in most cases we had been winning convincingly. As a coach, I had fallen into the trap of expecting my team to always play well. They had done it in the past so surely great things would just naturally happen in the future. I remembered some wisdom I heard long ago—past success does not guarantee future success. How easy it is for us to just expect good things to happen! How easy it is to take our good fortune and blessings for granted.
 
As I reflect on that experience, I must admit that I often do the same thing with God. All too often I fall into a false sense of security when all is going well. To be truthful, I sometimes even forget about God and think this is the way things are supposed to be. Then when my life turns into a disaster, I want to know what the heck is going on! “God, are You still there?” Taking God for granted is dangerous. When we forget to grow our relationship with God, He will find a way to get our attention. Relationships take hard work to grow. Could it be that you are taking God for granted right now? Spend some time with Him by reading His Word, talking with Him and listening for His response. God will never be closer than He is right now.

Heavenly Father, help me to grow in my relationship with You today. May I never take You for granted or take credit for the blessings You give me. Amen.