Devil's Dart: Self-Sufficiency

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him." Jeremiah 17:5, 7

God wants us to trust and depend on Him. But I am not sure we know how to depend on Him anymore. In the Bible, people depended on God to send rain for the crops, to heal them, and to guide and protect them. Today we go to the grocery store to get food, or if we do have a garden, we turn on the sprinkler system to water it. We go to the doctor and take medicine for healing. We use GPS or AI for guidance and security systems and law enforcement for protection. We may thank God for our food and protection, but do we really give Him the glory for everything, or have we become complacent and reliant on people and things?

For most of us, we have been taught that we should learn to take care of ourselves and not depend on others. The world tells us “you do you,” or to “be yourself, do your will.” We forget that without God we can do nothing (John 15:5). Yes, we need to learn to tie our own shoes, clean up after ourselves, and do what we can to grow up. But in our quest for independence, we cannot forget God and all that He does for us. We think that because we are educated or have “street” knowledge that we can depend on ourselves to make the right choices. But God’s ways are not our ways.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

God is basically saying our self-importance does not always bring truth. We don’t have to do everything on our own. Instead, we should be like little children and depend on our Heavenly Father.

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3

Children depend on their parents to provide food, keep them safe, teach them how to live and how to love. Children also want to be like their parents. Young children think that their parents are smart and can do anything. God is a wise and loving father. He knows what is best for us, and He wants us to lay down the burden of self-dependence and depend on Him.

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” Isaiah 48:17

But often we get false confidence from artificial intelligence and self-proclaimed professionals. It goes back to the Garden of Eden. Eve thought that the fruit would make them wise; they would be smart like God (Gen 3:6). They could do everything themselves and wouldn’t need God. Satan is still using this same dart to keep us from trusting God. We start small and think this is such a small task; I got this. I don’t need to bother God. But we become more and more independent and forget to spend time with God, seeing what is best from His all-knowing view. This affects our relationship with Him as we become more distant.

Satan takes what God has given us that is good and makes it a distraction. Everything good comes from God (James 1:17). God has given us so much to make our lives easier, but He wants us to remember that it comes from Him, and we should worship Him for providing for us.

Mankind can get it wrong; their "wisdom" can be deceptive. God is always right and can be trusted, even though things might not happen when or how we think they should.

He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. Deuteronomy 32:4

God is still in control and gives us good things, but our trust and focus must remain on Him. Without Him we can do nothing. So when we get well after going to the doctor, we should remember that it is really God doing the healing. Or when we make it to our destination safely, it is only with God’s protection that we arrive safely, not GPS or the latest greatest car. God deserves all the glory and praise.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5