Bible verses are taken from the New King
James version unless stated otherwise.
We often hear the saying, “God helps those
who help themselves.” But that is not in the Bible. The Lord wants us to be
totally dependent on Him for our guidance, actions, and purpose in life. A
picture of this is given to us in the story of Joseph found in the book of
Genesis from chapter 37 to 50. We pick up the story in chapter 39 after Joseph
had been sold into Egypt and had been bought as a slave by Potiphar, Pharaoh’s
Captain of the Guard, who became his master.
Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph
and the Lord made all he did prosper. Joseph
found favor in Potiphar’s sight, and served him. Then Potiphar made Joseph
overseer of his house, and put all that he had under Joseph’s authority. It was
from the time that Potiphar had made Joseph the overseer of his house and all
that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and
the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field.
Potiphar, his Egyptian master, saw how
prosperous Joseph was because the Lord was with him. Potiphar did not know what
or how much he had as it was all being taken care of by Joseph. The only thing
the master concerned himself with was the food he ate. Can we trust the Lord
that much? As much as a man could trust another man? Or more?
The Lord wants us to be even more dependent
on Him than Potiphar was on Joseph. If we were able to leave all our cares and
concerns in the Lord’s hands, we would have the freedom to do what the Lord
calls us to do, and not be as stressed or uptight as we often are. In 1 Peter
5:6-7, we are instructed to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care on Him, for He cares
for you.”
To “cast” means to throw or to toss something
to a different location, and once you cast it, it is no longer in your hands.
That is what the Lord wants us to do; to throw all the things which concern us
into His hands for Him to take care of. Just as Potiphar put all that he had
under Joseph’s authority, let us put all our cares, concerns, and worries in
life into the Lord’s hands. Once we “cast our cares on the Lord,” they are no
longer ours to be concerned about. They are now the Lord’s responsibility to
take care of, as they are now under His authority.
So often we will not let go completely. We
can, but we don’t. Why? We keep holding on to our troubles and find it hard to
surrender them completely to the Lord. We should absolutely TRUST HIM to the
point that the only thing that should concern us is His will (and guidance) for
us at the present moment. We can
then give the present moment 100% of our attention. By saying that, I don’t
mean that we should not take any action. The Lord will guide our steps and our
path. He promises that, “His Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
(Psalm 119:105). We don’t need to stress about things. We just need to learn to
be dependent on the Lord and trust Him for our guidance and direction. Read His
Word, the Bible.
I have been disabled all my life, and have
lived my entire life from a wheelchair. In my earlier years, I used to be able
to crawl and transfer myself in and out of my wheelchair, in and out of bed,
and was able to do many other transfers on my own. But when my right hip began
to deteriorate when I was in my early forties, I could not do as much for
myself. I had to learn to become more dependent on others. I know I had been dependent on others for many
things before my hip deteriorated, but now the Lord was bringing me to a higher
level of dependence on Him, as well as on others. It was hard at first. I still
find it hard waiting for someone to get me up in the morning. I wake up very early
and have to stay in bed until someone comes to get me up, but I use that time
now to pray.
Jesus invites those who are tired and heavy
laden to come to Him. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and
lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and
My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). When we are burdened, stressed and
uptight about how our bills are going to be paid or how we are going to provide
for the future, Jesus tells us to come and rest in Him. Roll all the heavy burdens
off your shoulders and onto the Lord’s, then just rest in His presence where
your spirit can be still and you can hear the Father’s voice.
The Lord is the One who is going to meet
your every need according to His riches in glory. With a heavenly Father with
that kind of wealth, we, as His children do not need to be stressed about
anything. We just need to be dependent on Him, just as a baby or little
children are dependent on their earthly father. Little children need to be
completely dependent on their mother or father for everything. In Psalms it
says, “As a father loves his children, so the Lord loves those who fear and
worship Him with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence.” (Psalm 103:13 Amplified
Bible). The Father has the same kind of compassion for us as His children, but
to a much greater degree than an earthly father has for his children.
Our Heavenly Father will not only meet our
needs, He will grant the desires of our hearts if we will delight ourselves in
Him. Just as a human father longs to grant the wishes and desires of his
children’s hearts, so our Father has promised to grant the desires of our
hearts if we delight ourselves in Him. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And
He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4). In the same way
that we can depend on and trust our Heavenly Father to meet our needs, we can also
depend on and trust our Father to grant the desires of our hearts.
He is always faithful, even if He does not
come to us on our timetable. His timing is always perfect. Just as we bring our
needs to our Father, so let us surrender our heart’s desires to Him as well.
The next verse says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him, And He
shall bring it to pass.” (Psalm 37:5).
In this New Year, let us become fully
dependent on our heavenly Father and then watch Him work on our behalf. He will
do amazing things.
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