In our world today, much of the focus is on ourselves and the power there is in perseverance and rewarding the persona of being on your own. It’s a selfish and arrogant act of not needing anyone or anything. But this couldn’t be further from the truth! We need God! After all, He created us, knowing us before we were even formed, and is connected to our very spirit in a way that no other being in our existence will ever match. Yet the world tells us something different. We are on our own so we must fight in every aspect of our life because no one is coming to help us. We need to control everything to protect ourselves, lest we get hurt. Ultimately, it’s up to us to preserve ourselves because life is trying to destroy us.
I’ve fallen into this trap and in fact, it’s one of my biggest character traits. I used to think it was a strength. Being able to take care of myself and not needing help. I was able to manage my health, balance work and time spent with friends and family, take care of my finances, etc. I felt in control and that only furthered the sentiment “I got this!”. Fortunately, God has a sense of humor, although sometimes it seems a little twisted. He has a way of humbling us and reminding us how fragile and needy we really are. For me, it wasn’t a massive health scare, loss of a loved one, or financial ruin that brought about a change. It was worse; little things daily or weekly that just spoke to me, telling me the sobering truth. “You are not self sustaining. You need God.”
While it was and continues to be a blow to my ego, another strong personality trait of mine, I am realizing how much of a gift this is. I can’t do life on my own and I’m not in control. While at first, this is terrifying, I also am seeing the other side. How nice would it be to not have to control things? How much stress and anxiety is wrapped up in the facade of control; the paradox of the harder we grip for control, the more we lose it? It really is one of the great faults of humanity and is the detriment of many if not all people. What if you knew that despite giving up control, things would work out? What if they didn’t just work out, but they worked out better than what you had in mind or we’re striving towards? That is God’s promise.
I have stated it in other posts. God cannot lie. Things are written in the Bible, a Holy book, because they are truth. “And my God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Php 4:19) We know God’s riches are enormous and infinite; they cannot be measured. He wants to give us what we need. Unfortunately, that probably doesn’t line up with what we think we need. But how do we know what we need anyway? If God knew us before we were formed, that means God knows us better than ourselves. Since that’s true, if follows that He knows what we need better than we do. Yet, our ego blocks this connection and makes us believe we know ourselves better and therefore can sustain ourselves. This leads to being exhausted and exasperated. I am seeing this in my own life and wondering why I am my own worst enemy.
The answer is it is an opportunity to lean in to God and grow my relationship with Him. I invite anyone struggling with this to do the same.
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