Reliance

This is a question that popped into my head yesterday. With all the cold weather around the country, it should be no surprise that we got our share. The snow was nice to see and it was exciting for our young son to experience it for the first time. However, troubles come with snow most of the time. It is always a possibility that power may go out when the weather gets bad enough. Sure enough, we lost power sometime in the middle of the night. This is not something we haven’t dealt with before though. My wife and I have lost power before but this time seemed very different. It was the first time that we went without power with a baby in the house. It made me realize just how much we needed that electricity. If it was just us, we could have managed the cold. Our son has needs that only the electricity could supply. He doesn’t understand how to keep himself bundled up for warmth when the temperatures are freezing. Luckily, he will drink cold milk but it is definitely not his preference. All that to say, we rely on the ability to flip a switch and have power at our fingertips more than we ever realized.

It made me think though, do I rely on God and Jesus this much? Are they so important to our everyday lives that without them our days grow difficult or even unbearable? The truth is, we must rely on God and Jesus that much. Without them there would be nothing, no life, no you or me. “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). You can continue reading on from there and see God go on to create all aspects of life including people. If you look at John 1:1 and following you would see that Jesus was there at the beginning with God as the Word that helped to create all things and continues to hold all things together. Unfortunately, after we were created, like bad weather causing problems, sin was brought into the world by going against what God commanded. This continues today whenever we choose to go against God. Because of our sin we are separated from the one who we need the most. Luckily for us, this is not the end of the story.

Insert God’s love here. If we look further into the gospel of John, we get to the famous passage John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” This is not the only passage we should know, but it does give us an idea about why we need to rely on God and Jesus so much. God loves us enough to show us grace and mercy. Mercy because we deserve punishment that He is willing to forego. Grace because He is willing to also bless us with a gift that we don’t deserve and could never earn in spite of our sin. But the only way we could be blessed in either of these ways is because He was willing to allow His Son (Jesus) to die for our sins and it is our belief, trust, and obedience to Him that affords us the blessings of His sacrifice.

So, what do you rely on? Is it the amount of money in the bank? Is it the job that pays the money? Is it the car that gets you to the job? Is it your family that takes care of you? Is it the government that provides what you need? The truth, however sad it may seem to be, is that all of those thing like electricity could be gone. And they may never come back. Nothing on this earth will last forever or ultimately be reliable. God and His Son are the only truly reliable sources that you will ever find. They were here at the beginning and the will continue after the earth is no more. Don’t take them for granted like electricity. A day is coming when the light switch of life will no longer work. When that day comes it will be too late to start believing and relying on them. If you have a desire not to perish and have eternal life, than choose to rely on Jesus today. It is those that believe and follow Him that have blessings from God that are necessary for eternal life.

Choices are something that we are all faced with every day of our lives. Sometimes those choices are just simple everyday occurrences like what to eat for breakfast, but we do come across those choices that shape who we are from time to time. To see an example of this let’s look at Ahaz king of Judah and his son Hezekiah who was later king of Judah, which is recorded in the book of 2 Kings starting at chapter 16.

When Ahaz became king he was in the midst of a war with Israel and Syria. Ahaz had choices to make.

God wanted to help him and was ready to

if Ahaz would simply turn to Him. Ahaz chose to turn to man rather than God and sought the help of Assyria. Ahaz showed his character and how he wanted to find a way himself rather than to rely on God in his life. This may have worked in theory for Ahaz because Assyria did come to his aid and rid him of the problem of Israel and Syria. Unfortunately, because Assyria was brought into the land and paid for their assistance they became greedy and eventually turned on the land of Judah. Ahaz made his choice to rely on someone other than God and it brought despair to the people.

Hezekiah, on the other hand, chose to not only trust in the Lord but to cling to Him as well, and because of this, the Lord was with Hezekiah. You can see this because at a time when Hezekiah was ill he prayed to the Lord and the Lord swiftly answered through Isaiah and healed Hezekiah and also gave him 15 extra years to his life. Hezekiah’s choice of God was not only beneficial for him it also helped the people, because when Assyria came down upon them God struck down 185,000 of their men in one night.

Hezekiah chose God. Can we make that same choice in our lives when times are tough? When we get down or are struggling is God the one that we look to? We will all face choices at times that aren’t as simple or easy as choosing breakfast, but it will show our character. Are we going to be like Ahaz and chose man or like Hezekiah and chose God?

Jacob Saarloos

What do you rely on?

Making the Choice of God