God Alone? Or, God And...?

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

Say what you will about God. But...

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

Say what you will about medicine. But...

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

Say what you will about knowledge. But...

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

Say what you will about insurance. But...

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

Say what you will about technology. But...

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

Say what you will about money. But...

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

God alone is my refuge. I know we ALL want to declare Psalm 91.2, but the word alone sadly disqualifies most. Alone means without any other. If God alone is our refuge, our provision is not in God and money. If God alone is our refuge, our health is not in God and medicine. If God alone is our refuge, our wisdom is not in God and knowledge. If God alone is our refuge, our safety is not in God and insurance.

I fear we are as idolatrous today (and even worse) than Israel of Old Testament times. Why? Because of our pious dogmatic sayings like, "God uses medicine,"  or "God gave us common sense." At best, belief in these sayings makes us polytheistic (having more than one god) in the fact that we do not trust in God alone, but instead, God and...

How stupid would I be to die of unchecked cancer when medicine offers a plethora of treatments?

Does the threat of death relieve us of the mandate to trust in God alone? Human reasoning says, "yes." But when has God ever endorsed human reasoning as a support system alongside faith in Him?

May God help us return to undiluted, pure faith in Him alone. May true Christ followers fear death only to the extent Christ feared it. In fact, Jesus, on the Cross, refused that which could have at least relieved some of His pain:

The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it. [Matthew 27.34]

Why? Because God alone was His refuge.

Jesus clearly instructed us to do as He did:

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. [Luke 9.23b]

What is your own way if it is not the knowledge, medicine, money and reason of man? And yet we justify saying, "God and these pills are keeping me alive and healthy."

When will we, like our Lord Jesus Christ, refuse that which is not God alone for our refuge? We will do this when suffering and death no longer invoke fear in us.

Jehoshaphat did not wait to see the enemy defeated before he put the singers out in front of the army. Abraham did not take a lamb with him "just in case." Elijah did not use a single ounce of "common sense" when he thoroughly doused the firewood and sacrifice with water before expecting the fire of God to come down and consume them.

But what if God hadn't come through for them? I will answer this question with another. Does death render faith ineffective and therefore useless? "Christ on the Cross" screams, "NO!" In fact, Jesus' death on His Cross served its purpose even more gloriously than His life on earth did!

If, as "Christians" we fear death, we know NOTHING of the faith Jesus demonstrated on earth and particularly on the Cross. There is nothing greater than pure undiluted faith in God - even unto death. Stay with me...

Jesus said:

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. [John 15.13]

Yes, Jesus forgave and healed the sick, walked on water, and raised the dead by faith (which Paul said, "works by love"). But when it came time, the Cross Jesus kept in His mind's eye every day became His greatest work of faith, which works by love, which is forgiveness. Yes, there was a time to forgive and heal, but there was ultimately a time to forgive and die regardless how unpleasant that process would be.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. [Romans 8.15-17]

Never are we more like Christ than when we refuse the world's solutions and subsequently live OR consequently die. Either way, faith is a win for the believer without the aid of the world and its idolatrous solutions. In fact:

Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. [2 Corinthians 4.10]

When we embrace "God and..." faith has become diluted and there is no glory because God shares His position as Healer, Provider, Comforter & etc. with no other entity (thing or person).

So, say what you will about living or dying. But...

This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. [Psalm 91.2]

Think about how different life would be if we cared absolutely nothing for our own health, provision, safety & etc. but instead simply trusted God. If God alone is our refuge and we live, great! If God alone is our refuge and we die, even greater!

Does this worry you? It should because:

...it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. [Hebrews 11.6]

Father, help us to put up or just shut up altogether about faith. The world is sickened by our words of faith and hypocritical actions and justification otherwise - and You must be even more so. May we be found in death-defying faith every day just as Jesus defied death on His Cross. So be it.