God wants you to depend on Him for everything … and to depend on Him first, before turning to anyone else.
God Is More Dependable Than You Are
It’s hard for many people to grasp this idea of looking to God first for your needs. We live in a do-it-yourself age.
Talk of faith? Society, schools, training institutes, human resource development, psychiatry, success psychologists, sports coaches … all tell you to have faith. Faith in whom or what? Have faith, they say. Faith that everything is going to turn out fine. They call it a positive mental attitude. If you try to pin them down to whom exactly are you supposed to have faith in, they will say: “Faith in yourself.”
Jesus told His disciples to have faith, too. But not just faith that things will turn out fine. Certainly not faith in yourself. Jesus said to His disciples, “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22)
That’s one very big difference. It is possible to have faith, even strong faith, but faith in the wrong person or object. Faith in your ability to earn money, faith in your education, faith in your talents, faith in your wife or husband, faith in yourself.
When the Assyrians came against the Israelites, God’s people made what they thought was a smart move. They reckoned that whichever side had the most chariots and horsemen would win the battle. Since Israel had fewer horses than the Assyrians, they tried to make a deal with Egypt to supply them chariots and horses. Logical, wan’t it? But this was God’s verdict on Israel.
Isaiah 31:1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
God wanted to save His children, but they turned to a pagan nation instead. They trusted in Egypt. God told them the result: Both Israel and Egypt would be defeated.
So often in our own situations, God may tell us to do something, or we may want to do it, and we decide whether we can or can’t do it based on how much money we have or don’t have. This means that we are trusting in money, on our resources, to meet the need. The just shall live by faith. He looks to God as his Total Resource. God is full of surprises. He can work to supply your need through means you can’t even dream of.
God Has More Resources Than Anybody – In Fact,
He Is Full Of Resources
Do you think you have too many needs for God to meet? The God of all creation lacks the resources to meet the multitude of needs that we have? Impossible! God doesn’t know what shortages are! He has an unlimited supply of everything!
When David wrote Psalm 50, the Israelites seemed to have confused the purpose of their sacrifices. They felt that they were feeding God, doing Him a favor, helping Him in His time of need by giving to Him.
He scorned them for this.
Psalms 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
Earlier in the same psalm, He said …
Psalms 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
God’s checking account contains all the treasures of heaven and earth, and that includes not just all the monetary resources, but it also means all physical, emotional and spiritual resources to meet every need you might have. So when things look bad, and you are a child of God, you’ve always got “the cheque-book“.
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God can do anything except fail. And that means anything. He can change people, give you a job, supply money directly and miraculously, alter your circumstances, control the weather, use you to help others. Whatever your need, He can meet it. You need to stop thinking that God has the same resources and capabilties to draw from that you do.
God Wants to be Your Total Resource
Incredible? It’s easier to believe that God can supply all your needs, than to believe that He wants to!
It’s easier to believe that God wants to supply the needs only of those very saintly types that the Catholic hierarchy puts on the altar! St. Francis Xavier, yes. St. Anthony of Padua, yes. St. Therese of Lisieux, yet. But you? Does God really want to supply your needs?
The Bible tells us that we must have our thinking renewed.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
If you really want to know and test out (prove) the perfect will of God for you, you must be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that is, you must learn to think Biblically, rather than as you previously did and perhaps still do!
God not only can.be your Total Resource, He really wants to be!
Giving is part of God’s nature. The Bible tells us that every good thing we have is from God.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Just because God isn’t given the credit doesn’t mean that He didn’t give it.
Isaiah 41:10-20 tells how much God gave and wants to give to Israel. This prophecy has already been fulfilled in a measure. The land of Israel that was like a desert before the Jews came to live there in the 1800s, became the envy of the Arab world, which is why they really want to crush Israel and take the whole land for themselves. But God says to Israel, “Don’t fear. You think you’re a worm? Well, I’ll make you a worm with teeth like a threshing instrument. You will destroy your enemies. And I will bless you so abundantly, that people will know that the hand of the Lord has done this.”
The same generosity that God has for Israel, His earthly people, He has for believers in Jesus, who constitute His heavenly people. (See Bible DNA regarding Day 3 and Day 4.)
God gives wisdom liberally.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
God gives life abundantly.
John 10:10b I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
God gives grace richly.
Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us …
He promises to open the windows of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there won’t be room to receive it all.
Malachi 3:10 … prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And Paul says commands Christians to trust, not in uncertain riches, but …
1 Timothy 6:17 … in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy
God doesn’t say, “Ask and we’ll see.” He says, “Ask and you will receive.”
John 16:24 … ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
You know that the Moghul Emperor Shah Jehan loved his wife Mumtaz Mahal dearly. She died in childbirth shortly after he ascended the throne. Grief-stricken, the Emperor decided to build a monument to express his love for her. It took ten years to build, and became one of the wonders of the world. It was the Taj Mahal. If a human can express his love so lavishly, you can confidently expect that the One who loves you with an everlasting love will be even more generous in His expression of it. All that He asks is that you depend on Him.
Those of us who are parents know how much we love to give to our children. God is our Father, and He loves to give to us as His children.
Matthew 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Look at Psalm 23. Read all the things that God wants to do for us. He wants to provide, direct, feed, give rest, restore, comfort, vindicate, etc., etc.
We need to renew our minds about God and see Him as He is. Let yourself be loved by God. Let Him do something for you, before you try to do something for Him!
The incredible thing, the true fact, is that God loves you even when you’re bad.
It’s easy to believe God wants to give you good things when you’ve been behaving yourself. But when you’ve been misbehaving, your faith gets shaky. So, when we’re bad, and therefore specially need God’s loving care, we don’t call on Him for help. We feel we don’t deserve His help.
The fact is: God wants to give us good things, not because we’ve done good, but because He is good and we belong to Him.
There’s a song that goes like this. It was composed in 1982 by Michael Card and Randy Scruggs.
JESUS LOVES ME
Jesus love me! This I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak but He is strong
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The Bible tells me so.
There’s a verse that not many sing, but we all could use.
Jesus loves me when I’m good
And I do the things I should.
Jesus loves me when I’m bad,
Though it makes Him very sad.
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The Bible tells me so.
That doesn’t mean that you can sin and not care about it. It means that you want to avoid sin because you love God, and yet, if you do sin, Jesus loves you still. John says
1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
God does not want us to sin. Yet He loves us even in our sin. That is why He has made provision to give us His own Son as our Advocate if and when we do sin. Truly, the love of God is absolutely incredible. How it motivates us to avoid sin, which cost Him the death of His Son, and yet how it motivates us to have confidence in Him without worrying that we will let Him down by sin, because we know what to do if that sad eventuality happens: All that we have to do is to turn to Jesus, and tell Him we’re sorry we missed it again, and He will take up our case before the bar of divine justice.
God wants you to live each day with David’s attitude.
Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack anything, I have everything I need. God is the right resource to look to because He has all you’ll ever need, and it delights Him to give you what you need and what you desire. God is more generous than you think.
He wants to be your Total Resource.
Bibloscope 