Trending
"I don't need God; I've got it all together." Maybe you have never heard it said in those words. But that idea is often expressed in our daily routines. It needn't be an intentional act of rebellion. It could be as simple as neglect. We get too busy to do our daily devotions. We forget to pray or to read our Bible. We don't intend to "ghost" God, but the results are as if we did.
At other times, it is more like: "I don't need God. I've got it all together, until it all falls apart." Then we humbly realize it was God who held it together, not us. In Colossians 1:17 the Apostle Paul writes, "He [God] existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together" (NLT).
What do we do when our world falls apart? We acknowledge our need for God; repent of our arrogant, self-sufficient attitude; and accept the grace and mercy that God offers us at that very moment. Like the prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32, we run home to our Father. And like the father in the parable, God waits with open arms to welcome us home.
Another similar attitude is "I don't need God because I have all the answers." The truth is, we don't even know most of the questions. I am so thankful for the wisdom and knowledge that God gives, but there is so much that we don't know and so much that we can't know.
God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 55:9 says, "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."
It is for that reason the writer of Proverbs 3:5-6 writes, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."
We have an amazing God who is willing to lead us, direct us, and even put us back together when we fall apart. In his love, he extends his grace and mercy to each of us. That incredible love was demonstrated by Christ's death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Sin is where that arrogant, self-sufficient attitude began, but as we accept Christ's substitutionary sacrifice, it is on the cross where that attitude ends.
It is at the cross where we acknowledge that we need God because we don't have it all together. It is at the cross where we admit that we don't even know all the questions, so how could we ever have all the answers.
Acts 17:28 reminds us that it is "in him we live and move and exist." God has it all together on our behalf. Thank him today for that fact.
Rev. James R. Pentz, retired Presbyter, Penn/Del Ministry Network