‘My help comes from the Lord…’ Psalm 121:2 NIV
If you want to do God’s will but don’t rely on His power, you’ll fail in spite of your skill, your connections and your resources. You must develop an increasing sense of dependence on God. Now you can’t just sit back and expect Him to do everything for you. You’ve been called to step out in faith, obey His instructions—then trust Him for the right results. God-sufficiency should become your goal, not self-sufficiency! This calls for praying, ‘Lord, I’m tempted to do things in my own strength, but I don’t like the results. Teach me to strive for excellence, not importance; to maximise my talents and minimise my ego. Remind me that You will never give me an assignment that doesn’t require obedience, commitment, and Your enabling grace.’ The Psalmist cried, ‘My help comes from the Lord.’ Think: if He’s Lord of every situation and He’s promised to help you, then your victory is assured. It’s when you think you can do it without Him, or with limited input from Him, that you get into trouble. Jesus said, ‘…The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do…’ (John 5:19 NKJV) Jesus knew He couldn’t do anything apart from the Father, so He never bothered to try. We, on the other hand, quote the verse, ‘…without Me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5 NKJV), then go out and act like it all depends on us. And what happens? We fall flat on our faces. So learn to stop regularly and ask yourself, ‘Who am I depending on?’ Then answer, ‘You, Lord!’
SoulFood: Acts 1:1–3:10, Luke 7:36–50, Ps 123, Pro 16:1
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©