From Self-Reliance to God-Reliance

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. II Corinthians 1:8-9 (New Living Translation, NLT)

Paul was telling the Corinthians that he and his companions had been through a time that was so harsh that they didn’t think they would live through it. None of us is immune to hardships and troubles. Even Paul dealt with pain and problems- because he was pursuing God and doing His will.

Many of you have been through such devastating circumstances that you thought it would crush you and take you out. I know I have. Maybe some of you are going through something like that right now. When we are in the midst of such things, we tend to grasp at anything that we think may get us out of our predicament. We go to friends, to the internet, to our pastor, to “the experts” like doctors, attorneys, etc. But Paul pointed out that he realized the only way out of his situation was to trust God to get him through it. When we quit flailing around looking for solutions and look to God, then God has access to help us. And when we get into places that we cannot get ourselves out of, it can serve to build and strengthen our faith. Turning from self-reliance to God-reliance is the best thing we can do for ourselves. It’s really the only thing we can do that will work.

Paul even pointed out that he had to remind himself that if the worst happened and they died, God is capable of raising the dead. No matter what we may be dealing with, our God is the resurrection and the life and we don’t even have to fear death. You see, no matter your problem, it’s never beyond what God is capable of. It may look like all is lost and there’s no way out- but our God is able to do anything. Stop trying to fix everything yourself and turn to Him for help. He’ll take good care of you.