How often do we put ourselves in a position of total dependency on God? So much so that if He didn’t intervene we’d all be screwed. Too radical? This is the very norm God desires for us. I sometimes find myself wanting to be comfortable with life. Isn’t that the American dream? The very thing we are taught since preschool. Go to school, get a job, and make lots of money so that you can retire early and have a life of comfort and pleasure. An easy life with no tragedy or pain. Why is this even part of our desire? Even as a Christian, with a renewed mind, I still find traces of this deception intwined within my desire. How can this “easy” yoked-lifestyle of the American dream be completely dependent upon God and still be without pain, trials, and adversity? It simply can not. Because of inequity, there is no escape from the tribulation we must live through. But as a thief steals one day and is caught the next, he must restore sevenfold (Proverbs 6:30-31). There will be loss (pain) during those waves of affliction but God will bring not only restoration but restitution. Knowing the heart of our Savior allows us to live more abandoned to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. This ultimately positions ourselves to lean on Him for everything. God doesn’t want partial credit for the lives we live. To choose this narrow path of Christianity it takes a complete dependency upon our Heavenly Father. A life that delivers ALL glory to His name. Sometimes I feel as if I’m asking Him to only help me with finishing the things I’ve started so that I’m able to secretly obtain some praise and glory for those accomplishments. Why do we not go after the things God starts for us so that He can complete the greatest of His accomplishments through us? That in it self is more satisfying than getting a little praise for my own work.
Our lives should look like Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, (2 Samuel 23) who chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and with odds stacked against him he killed the lion. Who freaking chases a lion on its on turf? Someone who has placed their dependency completely on God, thats who! In a million to one disadvantage, he killed two giants with their own spears! It wasn’t by his own strength or ability that he was able to do this. In Judges 6, why was it that Gideon’s vastly outnumbered army of 32 thousands was”too big” for God to give them victory over the Midianites? God wants all glory so reducing Gideon’s army to 300 and only attacking with trumpets and jars was necessary. It defied the odds of being humanly possible and accredited God with all glory. We must live our lives more abandoned to Him and stop listening to the limitations of a nation’s faulty dream.