DEVOTIONAL 45: NO NEED TO BE CAREFUL

I read a passage recently that knocked me back for a moment. It went against a lifetime of habit, indoctrination, and mindset. Read this and see if anything in it shocks you the way it shocked me:

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8 KJV

What? Not be careful in the year of drought? I am always careful. I have spent my life preparing for times of drought. Can the Bible really be saying not to be careful in the dry times?

You may not be knocked for a loop by this verse the way I was. Let me explain how I got this way. I was raised by parents who were deeply affected by The Great Depression, and at our house, we lived as if we were always preparing for the inevitable next Great Depression. My Dad was a wonderful provider and over-insured us for everything, and as an adult, I have over-insured myself for any possible disaster ever since I was old enough to purchase insurance. I have held the maximum long-term care disability insurance available since I was in my thirties (I am saying this with embarrassment)! As a single mom, I wanted to be sure I was not a burden to my family and that all the details of my care were provided for.  This is my mentality. At the root of it is fear. Also, it indicates the belief in self and a worship of self-reliance that has been a scourge in my spiritual growth for all of my adult life. It is a pride issue that I must face and fight over and over again.

The Lord does not want me to be self-reliant. He wants me to rely on Him. He wants me to have confidence in Him and not myself. Here are some things He has told me in His Word about where my confidence should lie:

·         For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. Proverbs 3:26

·         In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. Proverbs 14:26

·         Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 2 Corinthians 3:4

·         So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6

And the Lord tells me clearly that I am not to try to take care of my own future through self-reliance or fear or worry:

·         For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— Philippians 3:3

In fact, He tells me very plainly not to lean on my own intellect and self-direction:

·         Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

He warns me that my confidence is in the Lord and not myself, and to take great care not to throw this true and reliable confidence away by switching my trust to self-confidence as the world encourages me to do:

·         Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10:35-36

He tells me honestly in I Timothy 3-4 that very difficult times will arise for me, so the things I worry about are real things. The drought Jeremiah referred to in my life can be a drought of love, or financial security, or anything else I might fear being deprived of, but that if I place my confidence in Him and not in myself or other humans, He states strongly that He is more than capable of conquering anything that comes my way:

·         Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. Psalm 27:3

·         Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

·         And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14

Finally, He has given me this go-to verse when my thinking gets all askew about the One who truly can protect me and Who has the ability to do unimaginable and victorious things to deliver me from any troubles:

·         What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

When I am feeling overwhelmed with pressure, worry, fear of the unknowns in my future, or am just too much in my head, I think of this verse and almost laugh out loud. The idea of any foe I might think I have here on this earth, up against the Almighty God of the universe, the Creator of mountains, oceans, and deep space, the designer of everything, and  Who has angels and all the earth at His command, well, it is just laughable to think I should be worried for even a minute. My confidence is in the Lord.