May 12--What Are You Depending On?

When life starts rocking, it's tempting to look to others or to self for help.  But "human help is worthless," and in this post, you'll discover the help that's so good, it's worthy of worship.  Today's passages are 1 Samuel 12-13, John 7:1-36, Psalm 108, Proverbs 15:3-4.

Click here for the written post of today's episode.

Eve reads her Bible journal aloud on this episode.

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Transcript

1 Samuel 12-13

John 7:1-36

Psalm 108, Prayer, Proverbs 15:3-4

SPEAKER_00 0:00

May twelfth What are you depending on? I won't be reading the scripture references. For those, please check the written post. Mother's Day is gone, thank goodness. I speak not only for mothers everywhere, but also for their children, and don't get me started about how brutal the day is for fathers who must make up for their kids' failures to fill up their mother's cups of expectations. It's a wonder anybody makes it out alive. This year, however, I found an alternative. My college friends and I went to the beach and avoided Mother's Day altogether. It was surprisingly wonderful to have no prerequisites for that day. Everybody enjoyed the relief as our families were off the hook back home, just as we were. Mother's Days of the past have made me mopey and ruminate, languishing in regret and disappointment for what wasn't, but Mother's Day this year had me power walking the beach and enjoying a stunning sunrise, doing water aerobics with friends, eating out and imbibing. When my youngest son heard I'd be gone for the day he said yes with a fist pump in the air, and a little too enthusiastically, if you ask me. I could have done without this heartfelt offering of praise for my absence, but I get it. Nobody had to face the impossible task of honoring us mammas enough or gasp, paying us back for our years of faithful service. Nothing like a little freedom blowing through the day for everybody. When your joy and well being depend on other people, you're bound to be let down, but when you depend on the God who gives you beach and breeze, sand and seashells with six old friends and glorious weather, you're bound to offer up your own fist pumps in praise. Only God is sturdy enough to support us. Today's passages say more about why we can trust him. The Old Testament chapters are first Samuel twelve to thirteen. It's not a sentimental stroll down memory lane that Samuel had in mind when he gathered the people of Israel to say goodbye now that he's old and close to dying. The stroll they took reminded everybody how hard headed and hard hearted they were, just like their ancestors. Besides what their parents did, this younger generation asked for a king because they wanted to feel as safe and secure as they perceive the nations to be around them. They're tired of being attacked by their enemies and having to trust God to fight for them. But Sam said they've already got a king. God was their king who fought for them himself and gave them victory after victory when they did what he told them, but over time depending on God had become too hard for them. God knew what was really going on. His people have rejected him as king, so they can be free of him and his commandments, so they can live how they please, so they can serve another human being. Even so he instructed Samuel to give them what they asked for and to anoint Saul as king over Israel. Samuel told them that now that they have a king, life won't be any sweeter, because the secret for the good life is to fear God, to worship him only, and to do what he says. This is the only way to live well in the land God's given them. It's the secret to living well in any land, come to think of it. Just this quick three step for the good life? Can it really be that simple? Jesus would make it even simpler. He summed up all ten of God's commandments succinctly when he said the most important thing was to love God and to love others, which is basically the same thing Samuel told them, to live in constant awe of God, to bring passion to your worship of Him alone, to listen to what He says and obey Him. The truth is the good life God offers can't be had by checking off a quick list. It's something altogether different. It's a whole hog way of living where you yield your whole heart, soul, mind, and body to him. In Bible times this was what the feast and festival days set aside seasonally were about. But Jesus had more in mind for his people than seasonal worship. He had in mind a daily offering, an ongoing relationship, a constant connection with him as metaphors about him point to. This is beginning to look much harder than it looked at first, and suddenly having a mortal king to follow who calls the shots and handles the finances and deals with invaders sounds a whole lot easier, because while sure, you'll have to pay taxes and follow his rules, you'll get to live as you please during the rest of your downtime, but living for God only is a whole nother thing. And here's the kicker I think I see coming. Living without God isn't a choice at all. Samuel doesn't say, hey, here's the deal, you can live God's way or you can live your own way without him. No, he reminds them that even when they sin, they're still God's covenant people, and that regardless of sin, God is still with them, and he still expects them to keep coming to him and worship. Quote, You have done all this evil, yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart, end quote. This was Samuel's main message to Israel that day. God won't give up his promise to be their God, even when they give up theirs to be his people. God is still God for them, and he won't let them wander off and live life without him, because of course they'll try to wander, and when they do, the cruelest thing God can do won't be to send in their enemies or plagues to get their attention, so they turn back to him. The cruelest thing would be if he abandoned them altogether and acted like living without him was okay by him. If heaven and hell are true, if love, joy, and peace with God in each other are real, if an eternal life of bliss starts here and now and continues in the hereafter, then it would be the cruelest thing God could ever do to let us miss it, to miss him and our eternal happily ever after. There's no good life without God, and the idea that there is is a lie from the pit. Saul was infected with this same sort of delusion, while his people depended on him rather than on God for the hassle free life they wanted. Saul thought beating the Philistines rather than trusting God would give him the prestigious life he wanted as king. When the Philistines gathered to attack, Saul's patience disappeared as quickly as his soldiers. He was down to six hundred men when he decided to go ahead and make the customary offerings to God without Samuel, but these were not authorized. Ironically, when Samuel finally showed up, Saul told him that it was because he was seeking God's blessing that he sacrificed prematurely. Yet Saul did the very opposite of what God said to have it. And Samuel chastised him and said he'd lose his kingship over it. Later Samuel asked him, What does God care about offerings and sacrifices? Just do what he says. Had Saul trusted God to be God for him, he'd have done just what God said, knowing that six hundred men or even three hundred like Gideon had, were plenty to beat the Philistines back with their army of thousands, because having God fight for him was more than enough. Like Saul, the battleground for each of us isn't with our enemies, our finances, or our circumstances. It's within us, it's with ourselves. It's in the battleground of the heart that we have to decide who we will surrender to and who we will depend on. What will we do with the time we're given to put God first before everything? Will we believe what he says or the person who condemns us? Will we believe he can do all things, even the impossible one we just cannot manage? Will we believe he's the one to fear and not the chaos around us with its gouging gas prices, unpredictable politics, uncontrollable climates, non compliant nations, terrifying technologies, raging narcissists? Because God is God, you can take a deep breath and depend on him for everything you need. The New Testament passage is John seven one to thirty six. Everyone seems to be asking the same thing about Jesus. Who is he? Ordinary Jews on the street, religious leaders, temple police, even his own biological brothers who grew up with him don't know who he is, and they don't believe in him either. This is the question each of us must settle for ourselves. Who is Jesus? A good teacher, a prophet, a lunatic, or who he said he was, the Son of God and Savior of the world. Jesus tells those listening that they can know if he comes from God or not by testing what he says, and this is the test. The person who makes up things tries to make himself look good, but the one who speaks truth doesn't make his message palatable or himself the focus. He makes God and what he says the focus. Jesus depended on his Father for everything, for his identity, for his message, for keeping his word to raise him from his grave. You can too. From Psalm one oh eight. David is in the thick of battle and is ready to sing, ready to raise a God song. He's already praising God and thanking him first thing in the morning for the victory he knows God will bring. How can he be so sure? Because David knows God loves him. His hope is in God to help and not in men. He says, quote, human help is worthless, end quote, because God is the one who gives help for the hard task. We do our best, of course, but all while knowing that God is the one we depend on to toss out our enemies like dirty water from a scrub bucket. Saul never prayed like this. Fearful, taking matters into his own hands, Saul went through the motions of worshiping God without his heart engaged or trusting. When life is too hard, don't get religious, get desperate and determined to stand on God's promises like David did and praise God rather than worry. A heart at rest and truly trusting can't help but praise because the battle is already won. God loves you more than you have any idea of, and he is at your beck and call every moment. Who else can you depend on like this? Prayer. God, we are hard pressed. Help me depend on you rather than Google what to do. Help me trust you because I am yours and you are mine, and you give help for the hard task. In Jesus' name, so be it. From Proverbs 15, 3 to 4. God sees everything that goes on, paying attention to good and bad alike. Kind words heal while unkind ones harm. Passages in 1 Samuel, John, Psalms, and Proverbs are selected for today in the yearly Bible. This is Eve Debartalaban Roebuck.