I tend to be naturally skeptical of a lot of things.\u00a0 For some reason skepticism has been equated with intelligence in our modern world, but I don’t think my skepticism is because of intelligence.\u00a0 My skepticism is due to pessimism.\u00a0 Whenever something seems good, I tend to start questioning and doubting.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this has affected my spiritual life a number of times.\u00a0 I often tend to doubt God, even when I don’t have good reason to.\u00a0 Many times I have asked God to help my faith, and he has worked in my life – taking care of me in amazing ways and always providing for me and my family, and even answering very specific prayers.\u00a0 But for some reason, I still struggle with doubt sometimes.<\/p>\n
I was caused to think about this with a recent reading from my daily Bible reading, which comes from Deuteronomy 8:17-18 –<\/p>\n
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’\u00a0 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” (NIV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What this passage reminds me of is that these doubts are not so much about intelligence or pessimism, but about pride.\u00a0 Maybe not always pride in the typical sense; I may not sit around thinking about how awesome I am and how I never have needed God.\u00a0 Nevertheless, I do often fall into the trap of thinking that I can do things on my own.\u00a0 It’s an easy trap to fall into.\u00a0 We live in the world and we live in the flesh. So for us it is difficult sometimes to look from the outside and recognize that God is really at the heart of it all.\u00a0 That’s the kind of pride I am talking about.\u00a0 We allow ourselves to sit in our own world and imagine that it really is all about us.\u00a0 That really, we can do it on our own. After all, it’s not like people who reject God somehow cease to live, right?<\/p>\n
But here Moses reminds the people of Israel not to go down that path.\u00a0 It is going to be easy for them, especially for people generations down the line, to imagine that it was all by their own power.\u00a0 But in reality, it is not at all by their own anything!\u00a0 They are not more powerful, not more righteous, not more cunning, not more deserving than anyone else.\u00a0 But God has worked in them to bless them (and indeed the entire world) and so they should always remember that.\u00a0 They should always remember that it is only through God that these blessings have come.<\/p>\n
We need to remember the same thing.\u00a0 God is at the heart of all life.\u00a0 Every blessing, every good thing – life and existence itself is sustained by God.\u00a0 So in a very real way, we need God in everything<\/em> we do.\u00a0 I know many people who have fallen away from God for various reasons, and I am sure that this kind of pride is at the heart of much of it.\u00a0 Let us all remember that it is God who gives us the ability, not just to do this or that, but to “live, and move, and have our being.”\u00a0 And let us glorify and honor him accordingly!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I tend to be naturally skeptical of a lot of things.\u00a0 For some reason skepticism has been equated with intelligence in our modern world, but…<\/p>\n