The place of God is sacred. To attempt taking that place is both piteous and dangerous. But to stay away from that sacred space, you need to know what it is.
‘And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”’ (Genesis 30:2, NKJV)
In this episode, we discuss one of the meanings to the place of God. He is the ultimate Provider. We are warned against attempting to take ultimate responsibility for our own provision and that of others will be very stressful. The stress can be reduced by knowing God is ultimately responsible for our sustenance, and every other thing is only a means by which He does that. Our hope should be built on nothing less. Our trust should be in nothing else.
By all means, be hardworking. But your trust shouldn’t be in your work. When you trust your job ultimately for your sustenance, you are putting all your eggs in one basket. If you add some side job, that’s two baskets. If you add another stream of income, you have three baskets holding your trust. Trusting in your savings and investments will make it four baskets. But trusting in any or all of these baskets has caused the sudden death of many when tragedy hit and all was lost. When you aknowledge God as your ultimate Source, then all these baskets are funded and insured by God. They are held and supplied by Him. Nothing is lost if they’re all is lost and God is yours. God is your ultimate Provider.
By all means, be favored. But if your trust is in the weak 🧺 baskets of others’ kindness, then when your friends or sponsors become emptied or enemies, you are a dead man. If God’s your ultimate Source, then people are only one of His means. And though all be against you, all is not lost if God is for you. Dry cisterns won’t fail your heart, for God is the strength of your heart. Yes, your heart may skip and your spirit may grow weak from the tragedies of this life. But God will be the strength of your heart. You will be revived.
“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18, NLT)
“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. But those who desert Him will perish….” (Psalms 73:26-27a, NLT)
“This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans 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, on the salty flats where no one lives.” (Jeremiah 17:5-6, NLT)
No matter how kind you are, you should not become another’s “God”; as that attempt will burden you with unhealthy stress that can kill you. If you don’t die from the stress, you will become proud. Death by poison or death from drug addiction! God is the ultimate Provider. Whoever attempts to take that place is in grave danger and misery.
Someone may think this an excuse to care less for the needy. Such a person must be reminded that our natural inclination is selfish and needs more kindness that is offensive to it than simple kindness that it deems ok. Our world programs us to crave for luxuries as though they were necessities and unless we are sacrificing, we are not actually giving as much as we should. All I’m saying is that in all of your kindness, remember God is the ultimate Giver.
The ultimate Provider for our salvation is God. Though we are saved through faith, it is by grace; and trusting in faith itself will fail us. Unless our trust is in God, our good works – however pious – will fail us. God is the Provider for our salvation and Christ is His provision. No doubt, attempting to take God’s place as our ultimate Provider for all other things is a dangerous misery. But no injury surpasses what we will get by attempting to substitute God’s role as Provider of our salvation. God provided a lamb for Abraham’s intended sacrifice of Isaac and got nicknamed “the Lord who provides”. The lamb God provided for Abraham’s sacrifice is a shadow of the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. It is only God’s provision in Christ Jesus that can save sinners. God is the ultimate Provider for our salvation, and Christ is His provision.
Preachers supply salvation, but God is the ultimate Supplier. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Preacher. Preachers cannot take pride for saving souls. Again, either the burden or the pride will kill them before their time.
Christ is the ultimate Savior. It’s a dangerous stress for our role in the salvation of souls to be overstretched as to mean we are indeed saving souls. If the thought makes us proud, we are doomed. If the thought makes us work hard, we may have some temporary gains howbeit with so much stressful and unhealthy draining of the evangelist. If we don’t settle on who the ultimate Savior is, our output in the field of evangelism will be without the peaceful rest of a God-trusting heart even if it gets the sovereign blessing of the Holy Spirit.
Then very soon the souls “we have saved” leave us, and we wish we could un-save them. We think they have left Christ. We lose our entitlement and get bitter. Or we will get discouraged from saving more. We regret the stressful work we put forth to save them, because we do not acknowledge the true Savior. No one is man enough to be the Savior of another. Even the saint has lingering smokes of sin that corrupt any love for evangelism. Because of this, let the vessels remain vessels. And let God be the ultimate Savior.
I am tempted to say that taking the ultimate role of saving the lost is better than the extreme end of leaving it all to God which is also wrong. But it is Satan’s style to ‘solve’ one evil or extreme with another. Our God is perfect. The right motivation is as important as the right act.
By all means, preach the Gospel. By all means, spread the good news. By all means, know that you have God’s backing to rescue the perishing. By all means, know that Jesus is the Savior, not you.
This is why we Pray. And this is why you should Pray. We pray because only God can do what He can do. After we have done all we can and should, it is God who blesses and sustains us. It is God who saves the lost. It is in God’s place to bless our five loaves of bread and two fish. It’s in His place to bless the work of our hands. Without Him is nothing made that was made. Oh Hallelujah! God is the ultimate Provider. We can work, work, work, work in this rest.
God is the ultimate Provider of all things and we must ultimately depend on Him in all things.