When Your Relationship with God Has Changed Over Time
Key Takeaways
- A spiritual stretch with fewer emotional highs does not mean a stretch with less of God present in your life.
- Writer J.S. Park realized that the fading of early adrenaline-fueled worship actually signaled a maturing, deepening relationship with God, much like a marriage moving from butterflies to steady love.
- Moses instructed the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8 to look back on their forty years in the wilderness to remember God's faithful provision.
- God's providence often includes undramatic, quiet faithfulness, such as forty years of sandals and clothes not wearing out.
- True spiritual maturity is marked by continued obedience and active remembering rather than relying solely on emotional feelings.
- Making a written list of past, often overlooked ways God has provided helps believers recognize His hidden work during difficult seasons.
The fire of your early faith has settled and the highs come less often. Learn what Moses told Israel to do with forty years of wilderness, and why verse 4 matters.
You've been following Jesus for thirty or forty years, and it doesn't feel the way it did at the start. The worship service doesn't move you like it did when you were twenty-five. Then comes the thought that makes your stomach drop. You start wondering whether you've lost something, or whether you ever had it. That's a frightening thing to wonder about yourself, so most people never say it out loud to anybody.
This episode opens with writer J.S. Park, who spent his first few years as a Christian running on adrenaline, with worship nights and goosebumps that felt like God standing in the room. Then it faded, and the songs started to feel routine.
Deuteronomy 8:2 gives you Moses' assignment for exactly this moment: "Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands." Start with where Israel is standing. This is the second generation, camped on the edge of Canaan and about to walk in. Moses has them look back at forty years before he turns them loose to go forward.
Then look at what God was doing out there. The Hebrew under "to prove your character" is to know what was in your heart. He ran that wilderness on purpose, and part of what it did was show them what they were made of. Verse 3 gives His method: He let them get hungry and then fed them manna, to teach them that people don't live by bread alone.
Verse 4 is the one almost nobody preaches. For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell. Forty years of sandals holding together. Nobody writes a song about that, and Moses makes a point of putting it in the record. So a stretch of faith with fewer highs in it is not a stretch with less God in it.
Then stay in the chapter for the warning. Moses tells them to be careful in the years when they're full and prosperous with fine houses built. He puts the danger in the comfortable years.
Which gives you a way to tell maturity from drift, and verse 2 already handed it to you. God's test was whether they would obey His commands. A faith that has matured is still obeying and still remembering.
Bart shares his own version of it, a stretch of ministry years ago where he couldn't see one thing God was accomplishing, and what he can see in it now.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
What the Hebrew behind "to prove your character" says God was after in the wilderness The verse in Deuteronomy 8 almost nobody preaches, and what it says about undramatic providence Where Moses locates the danger, and the one question that separates maturity from drift
Here's the practical step. Make a list of what God has done in your life, going back as far as you can remember. Include the things nobody else would find impressive. Then find one entry you couldn't see while you were living it and mark it. That's your evidence He works where you can't watch Him. Then thank Him for both stages, back then and right now.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean when your relationship with God feels different over time?
A shift from intense emotional highs to a calmer, quieter faith is often a natural transition from early spiritual infatuation to a deep, steady relationship, similar to how a marriage matures over the years.
What was the purpose of the forty years in the wilderness according to Deuteronomy 8?
God led Israel through the wilderness to humble them, test their hearts, prove their character, and teach them that people do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
How can you tell the difference between spiritual maturity and spiritual drift?
Spiritual maturity is characterized by continued obedience to God's commands and active remembrance of His past faithfulness, whereas drifting away involves abandoning both.
What is J.S. Park's perspective on the fading of early Christian excitement?
J.S. Park initially feared that losing the adrenaline and goosebumps of early worship meant he was losing God, but he later realized his relationship had simply deepened into something lasting.
Track 1 00:00:01
For his first few years as a Christian, J. S. Park ran
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on pure adrenaline. The worship nights and the goosebumps felt
Track 1 00:00:08
like God's standing right there in the room. Then it began to
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fade. The songs that used to move him started to feel routine.
Track 1 00:00:16
The highs came further and further apart, and he caught
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himself wondering if he had ever known God at all. The truth was,
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something had changed in his faith. He just had the diagnosis
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backward. We'll come back to what Park came to see, but
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welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger.
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There was a stretch of ministry years ago I'd never want to
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repeat. It was pretty tough. While I was in that stretch, I
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couldn't see what God was trying to accomplish in my life. I
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prayed about it and asked what he was doing, and I got nothing
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back in return. I can see it now, though. Looking at that stretch
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today, I can tell you what he was building in me, and I
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wouldn't be the pastor I am today without it. None of that
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was available to me at the time. I had to get years down the road
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before I could look back and recognize his hand in it. Jesus
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for 20, 30, or 40 years, and it doesn't feel the way it did at
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the start. The worship service doesn't move you like it did
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when you were 25. You pray, and it's meaningful, but most days
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feel, well, ordinary. when praying felt like the heavens
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opened and the angel chorus rang. Then comes a thought that makes
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you reevaluate. You start wondering whether you've lost
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something or whether you ever had it. That's a frightening
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thing to wonder about yourself. You've been a Christian too long
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to admit you're not sure what you've got. Moses gave his
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people an assignment for exactly this moment. Remember how the
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Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these 40
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years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character and
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to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Think
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about where they're standing. This is the second generation.
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The children are the ones who came out of Egypt. They're
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camped on the edge of Canaan and about to walk in. Moses has them
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look back at 40 years before he turns them loose to go forward.
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Then look at what the verse says God was doing out there,
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humbling you and testing you to prove your character. The Hebrew
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beneath that last phrase is to know what was in your heart.
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Those 40 years were not God losing track of anybody. He led
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them through that wilderness on purpose, and part of it was to
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show them what they were made of. Now, read the next verse,
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because it gives you his method. He let them get hungry and then
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fed them manna. Verse 3 says he did it to teach them that people
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don't live by bread alone. He took away the ordinary supply so
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they'd learn where their life came from. Then there's verse 4.
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For all these 40 years, your clothes didn't wear out, and
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your feet didn't blister or swell. Forty years of sandals
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holding together. God took care of a nation so well that the
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care became almost invisible, and Moses makes a point of
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putting it in the record. So, a stretch of faith with fewer
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highs in it is not a stretch with less God in it. Forty years
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of clothes that held up is the same God as the fire on the
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mountain, even if not quite as fiery. Then, in the same chapter,
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Moses tells them when to be careful. Verse 11. He says,
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that's when to watch out, when they're full and prosperous with
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fine houses built. Verse 14 says,
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This gives you a way to tell maturity from simply drifting.
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And verse 2 already gives it to you. God's test was whether they
Track 1 00:03:42
would obey His commands. So, ask yourself that question instead
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of the feelings question. A mature faith still obeys and
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still remembers. A faith that's drifting stopped doing both a
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while back, and most people in that spot have a fair which one
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they are. So, do what Moses told them to do. Look back on purpose.
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Park had read the fading fire as proof that God was slipping away.
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What he came to see was almost the opposite. The feelings
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settled because the relationship deepened. Think of it like a
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marriage. Year 1, it's all butterflies. Year 20 is a lot
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calmer and far stronger. A love that's ocean deep rather than
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lake shallow. The early thrill of faith works the same way.
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When the goose bumps come less often, God hasn't left the room.
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You've just moved from infatuation to something that
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lasts. Park stopped chasing the highs and let his faith grow
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into the deep, steady relationship it was always meant
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to become. Stay with that marriage picture because I
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believe it holds up where it counts. Nobody looks at a couple
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married 40 years and worries that they've lost the
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butterflies. No, instead, we admire them. Then we turn around
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and grade our own faith by the butterflies. Here's today's
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challenge. Get something to write on and list what God has
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done in your life. Go back as far as you can remember. Write
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down the things nobody else would find impressive. The
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stretches when God took care of you without you thinking about
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it. Then find one entry on that list you couldn't see while you
Track 1 00:05:13
were living it and mark it down. That's your evidence he works
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where you can't watch him. And thank him for both stages. The
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one you were in back then and the one you're in right now.
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Father, you told your people to remember the 40 years and you
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said you had run every one of those years on purpose. Thank
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you that you kept their clothes from wearing out and that you
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still work in ways nobody would write a song about. For
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everybody listening who's afraid the cooling means they've lost
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you, let them look back and see your hand on it. Keep us obeying
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and keep us remembering. In Jesus' name, amen. If you need
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prayer today, I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me a
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voicemail at dailydevotionsforbusylives.com
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slash voicemail. I listen to every single one and it would be
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an honor to bring your name before the Lord. Thanks for
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joining me on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, 40
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years of clothes that didn't wear out made it into the Bible.
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Look back this week and thank him for both stages. Come back
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next time for more encouragement to help you live grounded in
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God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great day.
