I can do it all by my own

Have you ever seen (or ever been) a little boy (or girl) who became impatient with daddy fixing a broken toy. I mean impatient to the point that he (you) snatched the toy out of daddy's hand because “I can to it all by my own”. And have you ever seen this go very badly wrong, with the final condition of the toy being worse when it was first given to daddy. What is it about a child that makes them (us) do that? We are told that in order to enter the Kingdom we need to become as a little child. But there is a huge difference between being childish (immature) and being child like (trusting, forgiving, carefree, believing). If we are wise we will acknowledge that we need help. But where do we find it, and where do we find a safe place?

It is the testimony of most Christians that I know who are truly living for the Lord, that God has never let them down. I came to God out of desperation, but He would never have held me if He had not been real, and His help substantial. I am writing my book and my blog, because the help I have received from Him is life giving, and it is too good not to share. I know that I would quite literally be dead if it were not for God, and the help He gives me in and through His Word. I have found it to be true that when I put my trust in Him He becomes my “refuge”, and “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27). He is my safe place and my high tower, and a very present help in times of trouble and danger (Psalm 46:1). He is also my comforter.

Many shy away from faith based recovery, but the fact of the matter is that the secular rout is in the end also faith based. What I mean is that we all put our trust in something, be it the changing wisdom of the World, or in our own abilities, or in our buddies. One self help book puts it this way “We can trust that life is a gentle teacher”, and that “life has brought us to this point and we can trust that life will bring us through”. The problem for me, is that life has not been a gentle teacher. I have a Ph. D. from the school of hard knocks! If I am to put my trust in something I need to know, or at least have some hope that that in which I am trusting, will hold me up. If I see that a chair is broken, I am not likely to want to sit on it! Blind faith may be alright for some, but it's not for me.

But where do we find the right kind of help, where can we find a safe place, and what part of all the conflicting advice that is given, can we trust? In this blog and in my book, I am advocating a trinity of helps, Bible help, self help and God's help. In the last few posts I have been emphasizing two components of this, namely God's help and the part that we have to play (our cooperation with Him). In this month's posts, I want to be looking at the Bible help component. I am sure you have heard the tongue in cheek advice “If all else fails, read the instructions”. Well the Bible is God's love letter to mankind, and its Words are “Words of Life”. In John 20:31 we read “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. John is talking about life in all its fullness (John 10:10). The Bible has much to say about the things that bring life, and the things that bring death. The book of proverbs tells us much about what works and what does not work. It also tells us that there are ways that seem right to us, but they lead to destruction (Proverbs 14:12). I found this out the hard way, I discovered that the wisdom and the ways of the World are a snare! We reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7) and this is a big part of the mess we are in (see "A cursed earth and the laws of sowing and reaping" August 2010).

Modern man seems to think he knows better, but we are not wise if we reject the wisdom God handed down to us through the Scriptures. The Bible itself tells us that the Scriptures are able to make us “wise unto salvation” (II Timothy 3:15). Psalm 119:105 tells us that His Word is a “light unto my feet and a light unto my path”. This is either true or it is nonsense. I am writing this blog and my book because I want to “show and tell” that I have found these things to be true. The wisdom of the World immediately responds “What is truth?” and like Pilot of old, dismisses the question as unanswerable. But it is the wisdom of the World that has gotten us into the quagmire we are in. Jesus in His high priestly prayer tells us that God's Word is truth. Its worth checking out. This month I am going to be talking about this, about why its worth checking it out, and how we can know that it is all true.