I decided in college that I didn’t need God to lead me in life. I made up my mind I was going to make my own way in the world. I believed I was intelligent, talented, and capable and I didn’t need God to help me get what I wanted. In large part, because I knew many of the things I wanted weren’t exactly the things I believed God wanted me to have in my life.
At the top of my list was money, which is where I believed my happiness and security would be found. This is what I would chase after for the first 16 years of my adult life. I would do so in my own strength and would end up failing miserably.
By the time I was 34, I found myself completely worn out and not much closer to my goal of happiness and financial security that I had pursued my whole adult life. I regularly numbed myself from the pain I felt and tried to escape from the reality of my life. I might have smiled on the outside, but I was empty on the inside. I realize now I was like a stunted shrub in the desert, with no hope for the future. My heart had turned away from the Lord. I had put my faith in myself and my strength, and I was experiencing exactly what God had promised.
The good news is it didn’t end there. I finally cried out to God and decided to surrender every part of my life to him. I would no longer trust in my own strength, but I would rely on his strength. This happened almost seven years ago.
Today, I can say I have become like the tree planted along the riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. There are still plenty of trials I face in my life, but I trust it is part of God’s plan for my life and no longer worry about how it will turn out. I have also seen God continue to allow me to bear fruit in my life, which is one of the most exciting and rewarding parts of walking with God through life. Just as I had experienced the curses God promised for relying on my own strength, I am now experiencing the blessings he promised by trusting in him and relying on his strength.
I see so many entrepreneurs with the belief that if they could just work harder or get a couple breaks that everything will go the way they want it to. They get up early thinking they can get ahead or they work late trying to stay ahead. I have seen this happen again and again and have found most of the time these people are relying on their own strength. They may say they trust God, but their actions speak differently.
Most of us set our alarms to wake up and start our day. A while back, I started setting my alarm to wake up to spend time with God. Each morning I wake up and look forward to the time I get to spend with him. I don’t rush through it. In fact, many times I end up spending a great deal more time with him than I had anticipated, which gets me an even later start to my day. In my human understanding, it would seem I would keep falling further and further behind by doing this. In God’s economy, however, it is the exact opposite.
If God created the universe and is the one who gives me breath, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that he could make my day easier if I make him a priority and put my trust in him. I have seen evidence of this in my life again and again.
How about you? If someone examined your daily life, would your actions match your words? Many people say they trust God, but their day-to-day actions show no evidence of it all. God’s Word tells us that our heart is the most deceitful of all things. Has your heart deceived you into relying on your own strength while believing you put your trust in God?
God tells us that he gives people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve. What type of reward do you believe you deserve based on your actions? Do your actions speak to the fact you rely on God and His strength in your life and business, or do they speak to the fact you rely on your own strength?
If you find you are relying on your own strength, cry out to God and ask him to pour out his grace in your life so that you might fully surrender all that you are to him. Ask him to take away your desires for the things of this world and to replace it with a longing to seek after him. Ask him to help your actions to match your words.
Remember God’s promise. “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”
“This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” Jeremiah 17:5-10 NLT
