Relying on God

Wednesday 12th August 2009

Relying on God

2 Chronicles 14:11 – Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you.”

Isaiah 50:10 – Who among you fears the LORD, and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.

1 John 4:16 – And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. Go dis love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Life is not always a bed of roses. It is not always like a piece of smooth dark chocolate. Sometimes it seems that life is not that smooth yacht ride you thought you got on – turns out it is actually a really big rollercoaster.
More than often, things happen in our lives that we wish didn’t. Dad might lose his job unexpectedly; perhaps your pet dog who you had lived with for your whole life suddenly passes away; it might be that your house is turned to dust in a freak bushfire which sweeps through your state.
Though these things are not fun, and don’t seem beneficial at the time, they have a purpose. God will never put you through anything you cannot handle. But do you know what? He doesn’t want you to try to do it all on your own.
When times get tough, it is not the bag of chocolate that we should turn to for comfort, it is our Bible. When we don’t know what is going to happen, don’t ask your friends for advice, or think that the newspaper horoscope will spell it out for you. Turn to God in prayer and ask Him and listen for the answer. If you suddenly find yourself drowning in a puddle of worries and woes, rise above that and worship your Saviour with all you have – because no matter what He is worthy.
In the book of Proverbs, we are told to not lean on our own understanding but to trust in God’s wisdom and turn to Him for direction in our life. But how often do we do that? Even in little choices, such as what we wear, we still need to ask ourselves what God would say about this.
So, we know we need to rely on God – not only in the bad times though, but in the good times. It can be hard to remember God when we are on the mountain top, or on the crest of the rollercoaster, but we have to. Our life, no matter what, needs to revolve around the wonderful love and goodness of our Heavenly Father. Even if it is hard, we need to worship Him because He is good and above all things.
The challenge to us now is this:

Will I put everything aside to know
and rely on my Father,
no matter what?

Things to think about (please comment your answers):
- What areas of my life am I holding onto and not letting God have control in?
- Where do I need to rely on God more?
- What things do I rely on now that I need to remove so I can rely on God more?
- What practical step am I going to take now – today – to rely more on God?

God bless you all as you rely more on Him!