Do you have a “me do!” attitude? I struggle with that. Check out how God showed me to me through His Word.
A phrase in 2 Chronicles 15:2 jumped off the page at me — “The Lord is with you when you are with Him.” It soooo echoes “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
2 Chronicles 15:7-9 was powerful. “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him…”. When I depend on my strength…defeat; but when I lean into God’s strength, committing myself fully to HIS cause, there is victory.
Psalm 44:3 — “It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was YOUR right hand, YOUR arm, and the light of YOUR face, for You loved them.”
Psalm 44:5-7 — “Through YOU we push back our enemies; through YOU we trample our foes. I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but YOU give us victory over our enemies, YOU put our adversaries to shame.”
It’s amazing how the theme of not trying to deal with life on my own has been brought before me lately. I have such a “me do” heart, feeling like I have to prove my strength to people. I am so convicted by what I just typed. I am robbing God of a chance to display His strength and receive glory through my life.
God put these passages before me in a reading plan, and it’s amazing how they fit together so perfectly in their theme — to rely on anything but God is fruitless. Over and over lately He is bringing James 4:8 to my mind. Only as I humble myself and draw near to God, admitting “I can’t”, can I experience any victory in my life at all. Jesus died and rose again, gaining the victory over sin and death, but I have to CHOOSE to live life in the light and power of that victory. How do I do that? Draw near and STAY near to God.