Self-Dependence

At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram.  Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and charioteers?  At that time you relied on the Lord, and he handed them over to you.  The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.  What a fool you have been!  From now on you will be at war.” [2 Chronicles 16.7-9]

King Asa had been a good king.  He had relied on the LORD in the past.  But in this instance when king Baasha of Israel was giving Judah trouble, Asa sought help elsewhere and failed to seek the LORD.

For his failure to trust the LORD, Asa would be in a state of perpetual war for the rest of his life.

This story is abounding with contemporary application.  

Many of us, at a helpless moment, have cried out to God and witnessed His undeniable intervention and merciful loving rescue.  But then, when times were better and adversary arose, we handled it ourselves without so much as a simple inquiry of God.

Now, it could be argued that it is right to refrain from troubling God with things we can do for ourselves.  This argument seems both logical and practical.  Furthermore, it would seem to be the mature thing to take care of what we can.  However, right and mature as it may seem, self-dependence is not what the LORD desires of us!  No, in fact, when we 'could' do it ourselves but seek the LORD anyway is when we have truly demonstrated a heart fully committed to Him.

I must ask myself today, "What am I doing on my own that the LORD wishes I would seek Him about?"

Father, I want to depend on You for everything every day.  Help me to overcome the pride of self-dependence and rely solely upon You!