HUMILITY—SEEING OURSELVES ACCURATELY

 

 

A God-believing friend told me, “I don’t like the idea of evolution, because it reduces us to animals lacking any meaning or purpose.” I agreed, but then he said, “ For the same reason, I do not like Christianity, because it reduces us to dirty-rotten sinners and  damages our self-esteem.”

I could see his point, but I am convinced that he is missing a lot. In fact, we are truly dirty rotten sinners who deserve to be condemned by an all-righteous God. But this same God has provided the perfect remedy through Jesus, who paid for our sins by dying for us and making peace between those who have received Him and God:

·       Romans 3:10–13 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”

·       Romans 3:23–24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

·       Romans 3:27–28 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

According to the Scriptures, boasting, arrogance, and pride are the enemies of humility, other-centeredness, truth, and transparency. They are in direct opposition. Therefore, we can only choose one or the other—building self-esteem or humbling ourselves to the truth. Jesus and the rest of the Bible consistently taught in favor of humility:

·       Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

But doesn’t humility come at the price of sacrificing our self-esteem and self-confidence? Absolutely! Jesus made plain the hidden costs of self-trust:

·       Luke 18:9–14  [Jesus] told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [reconciled to God], rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The edifice of self-trust can only be built upon the contempt for those “beneath” us and the continual feeding of our self-esteem. It is not enough for us to think that we are worthy and significant. Instead, we need to think that we are better and more deserving than others. This is the plight of the narcissist who requires a steady stream of the self-adoration drug . Before God will exalt him, He must break him of his mind-altering drug addiction, something few can see and are willing to surrender. Otherwise, he will regard God’s blessings as his entitlement by virtue of his “superiority”—a relationship killer in every way!

I am convinced that this addiction can only be broken as God provides us with a far better substitute—His affirming, loving and reassuring care. However, His purifying fires can be horribly painful.

How can we endure our repeated meltdowns? No one enjoys enduring withdrawal from our narcissistic drug. However, in John 8:31–32, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” How?

·       Once we stop trusting in and obsessing about our own virtue and adequacy, we can begin to trust in our loving Savior as never before and who will give us rest (Matthew 11:28-30).

·       Having humbled us, He can begin to exalt us in ways we had never before imagined: Ephesians 3:19–20 …”know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”

·       Knowing that we are beloved by our Savior, we no longer need to crave the love and affirmations of others. This frees us from our dependence upon them to meet our needs to become centered on their needs.

·       Humility can take criticism and failure. Why? Because my life no longer depends on these things and maintaining my self-esteem but on the love and care of our Savior. However, before I knew Jesus, I had used many strategies to protect the foundation of my life.

·       Humility doesn’t always have to be on the defensive and to always be right.

·       Knowing His acceptance of us, we can begin to accept ourselves despite our many failures and also to accept others.

·       No longer needing to prove ourselves to others, we are free to be transparent and to even laugh at ourselves.

·       If we are blind to ourselves and our cravings, we remain blind to those of others. However, as we come to understand ourselves, we begin to understand others and their needs.

·       Because we have been set free from the demanding ever-present need to exalt ourselves, we can now see ourselves accurately. Knowing that God is for us, even though we are not worthy of Him, we no longer need to promote ourselves and to manipulate others to approve of us.

God has satisfied our most basic needs so that our weary souls can find rest and freedom.

Through humility our Lord offers freedom, peace, and the knowledge of the truth. It is the fertile soil from which all virtues must grow, but it is also the gift of God. From my experience, we will no sooner seek the truth about ourselves than a mouse would seek a cat.

ISRAEL AND THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Struggling to trust that God would honor His promise to provide an heir through his barren wife Sarah, Abraham—the Patriarch and father of the Israelites—designated his servant Eliezar to be his heir. However, God came to him in a vision and assured Abraham:

·       … “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” Genesis 15:4.

To illustrate His promise, God directed Abraham to look up at the uncountable stars and then assured him that this is how many offspring he would have:

·       And he believed the LORD, and [God] counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

The Lord “Yahweh” provided Abraham with a mysterious gift—the gift of righteousness—that transcended anything that Abraham could have expected. It was a gift that would reshape human history. What did Abraham understand about God’s strange and unexpected gift? We do not know. Scripture doesn’t tell us. Abraham never refers back to it. Instead, Abraham’s focus had been upon having an heir and a landed inheritance.

However, without the gift of God’s righteousness, humankind was destined to be endlessly coerced to prove their worth, significance, and righteousness through their own efforts. In the process, they would become self-obsessed narcissists, endlessly preoccupied with proving their own righteousness [once their immediate material needs had been assured.]

This reality has become particularly true about the Israelites, to whom God had given the ability to be successful:

·       “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.” (Deuteronomy 8:17–20)

Sadly, this divine warning has become the portrait of Israel’s history. However, God promised that He would never abandon Israel permanently:

·       But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the LORD of hosts. For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.” For thus says the LORD of hosts: “As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the LORD of hosts, so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not…The [Gentile] inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.’ Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ” Zechariah 8:11–15, 21-23

What happens when we reject God’s gift of righteousness? We become self-condemned to have to endlessly construct our own righteousness. It is not enough to hit just one home run. Instead, we have to hit the ball out of the park continually. However, once we convince ourselves and the world that we are a “somebody,” the battle doesn’t cease. Instead, the higher we exalt ourselves, the harder we fall.  And, the perpetual process of proving our worth continues.

John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world of his day, was asked, “How much more money will you need to be happy?” He famously answered, “Always a bit more.” As with any addict, we always need a greater fix to maintain our high.

Let’s apply this to my Jewish people. Even the Orthodox have rejected the God of the Bible for the god of the Talmud—in other words, the opinions of the rabbis. As a result, they are on the Rockefeller rollercoaster, forever clawing their way to the top, controlled by the need for the righteousness of God that they have rejected.

How is this manifested? Often, through various wild, idealistic quests—even messianic quests to be the greatest and most self-sacrificial. For this reason, many Jews were drawn into causes that would eventually come to persecute them. However, the prospect of attaining self-righteousness blinded them to the costs, both to themselves and to those they sought to help. Some had supported Hitler but more often communism. To both, they had fallen prey. And now they are hated by their fellow Leftists.

Oddly, this Jewish quest for self-righteousness can also lead to a rejection of their own people. This is a way that some Jews can demonstrate that they are above tribalism. The late poet T.S. Elliot reflected on the dangers of such misguided idealism:

·       Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm--but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.

Consequently, some Jews viciously attack Israel. Jeffrey S. Tobin writes:

·       At the heart of this sinister effort [to denigrate Israel] are its preferred mouthpieces: Israel-hating Jews who typically chime in to criticize the Jewish state “as a Jew.” They are essential props in the campaign to legitimize efforts to distort and deny traditional Jewish beliefs. While sometimes couched in the language of faith, scholarship and human-rights advocacy—and purportedly anchored in Jewish historical movements—the goal is much the same as that of bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists: destroy the Jewish state, something that could only be accomplished by the slaughter of its people. (“Progressive Judaism ‘without Israel’ is a tool for antisemites,” Jewish News Syndicate, 1/17/2024, at https://www.jns.org/progressive-judaism-without-israel-is-a-tool-for-antisemites/ )

It seems plain that there are some progressive Jews who want to show the world: “I am more righteous than you.” I understand this because I also used to be this way until I received the free gift of God’s righteousness. When we are assured of His love, we become free from the never-ending need of having to prove ourselves righteous and worthy.

SHOULD OUR BELIEFS BE BASED ON MIRACLES?

 

 

Certainly not! As Jesus had warned, miracles can be performed by the lawless and even demons:

·       “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus also warned about satanic miracles:

·       “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24)

These miracles will be so compelling that even God’s children would be led astray apart from His protection. These deceptive miracles will proliferate towards the end of the age:

·       The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:9–10) Those who have rejected the truth and seek an alternative spirituality will be fair-game for demonic deceptions through paganism, the New Age, and witchcraft. Pharaoh’s magicians were even able to duplicate some of Moses’ miracles. The Book of Revelation is filled with demonic miracles:

·       It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. (Revelation 13:13–14; 16:14; 19:20)

Consequently, we should never allow miracles to override the authority of the  Bible, God’s Word. While miracles can serve to validate the Gospel, they should never overrule the Gospel. All our beliefs must be brought into conformity with the Word of God, our supreme authority:

·       For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:4–5)

The supremacy of God’s Word, even above signs and wonders, is echoed throughout the Bible:

·       “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God…” (Deuteronomy 13:1–5)

Teaching against God’s Word was so serious that it carried a death penalty in the OT. However, Holly Pivec, and R. Douglas Geivett have written that deceptive signs and wonders tragically deceive many Christians:

·       I have personally witnessed the devastation of the many wounded people left in its wake. I’ve watched unsuspecting Christians who are hungry for revival become swept up in a movement that promises unity, renewal, and even miracles only to deliver confusion, empty promises, and manipulation.” (Introduction, Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and New Age Practices in the Church)

They target the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) centered in Bethel Church, Redding Calif, which claims many miracles, prophecies, healings and modern-day apostles and prophets who perform them. However, other related “Christian” groups, Like the Word of Faith movement (also called the Prosperity Gospel). highlight signs and wonders to justify their distorted use of God’s Word. These groups have become so influential that a 2017 Lifeway Research study found that:

·       …churchgoers are more likely today (2023) than in 2017 to believe God wants them to prosper financially (76% v. 69%) Today, 3 in 4 churchgoers (76%) believe God wants them to prosper financially. https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/08/oberlins-art-museum-projects-grandeur-in-a-gemlike-package/

In light of the teachings of the NT, this is shocking:

·       But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:6–10)

While these Prosperity Preachers are preaching the love of money, the Bible preaches the very opposite message. How then has prosperity preaching been able to influence so many? Does their love of money exceeds their love of God’s Word? Are they more impressed by the “signs and wonders” supported by their many testimonials of healings and successes, prevailed? Nevertheless, Jesus reassures us that:

·       “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27–28)

REJECTION DOESN’T ALWAYS IMPLY FAULT

One author had argued that evangelicalism is dying because of its rigidity and certainty. I responded:

“You are correct in your assessment of the rigidity of evangelicalism. However, there are many things that require rigidity like our commitment to:

1. Truth
2. Justice
3. Honesty
4. Integrity
5. And our families.

There is also a need for certainty that:

1. There is a right and wrong, like genocide and rape are wrong.
2. Without certainty, we cannot stand against oppression, put our lives on the line, and even resist falsehoods as you are certain you are doing.

It is certainty that prods us evangelicals out of our comfort zones to live sacrificially and to love the unlovable. It is the rejection of certainty that narrows our lives to mere immediate gratification, pleasures, and distractions.

Truth should not be decided by vote or by popular consent. If evangelism is dying, it doesn’t mean that evangelicalism is at fault, no more than Jesus’ crucifixion meant that He had done something deserving of death.

MIRACLES AND THE DEMONIC

 


For starts, Pharaoh’s magicians were able to match those of the God of Moses. By the power of Satan, they were even able to change their staff into a snake. This shouldn’t be a surprise for those who know that Bible and know that the power of Satan is real. By this power, Satan killed the sons and daughters of Job and afflicted Job. He is also able to heal, possess, and has taken the world captive through his deceptions (1 John 5:19).

I have even experienced his powers of deception through the Ouija Board. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me that he is still performing counterfeit unbiblical miracles, for example slain-in-the-Spirit to deceive. There are many examples of this:

Various schools teaching how to speak in tongue, to perform miracles, and prophesy, even though there is no such precedent in the Scriptures.

Many others claim supernatural experiences from alleged UFO abductions. However, it seems that these “abductions” were often terminated when the abductees cried out for Jesus to help them. https://www.facebook.com/DoreenVirtueForJesus/videos/380798094424296

How then can we be sure that various manifestations, miracles, and teachings are from the Lord rather than from demons. We are instructed to test and examine all things:

•    1 Thessalonians 5:20–22 Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

How then do we test everything? By the Scriptures, our ultimate authority! They must take precedence over miracles, charismatic speakers, and even our own feelings and inclinations:

•    Deuteronomy 13:1–4 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

The Word of God has to take precedence over all else:

•    Deuteronomy 18:19–22 “And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

In contrast, the demonic world places no “does” and “don’ts” upon its practitioners, who are free to continue to live according to their preferred lifestyle. Instead, it’s all about the results—obtaining a spirit guide and experiencing something transcendent. Sandra Ingerman, a shaman, writes:

•    As you read this book and wonder whether or not what I am talking about is real, I ask you not to enter into a battle between the right brain [reason] and left brain [intuition]. Simply read the material and experience it...Does the information that comes from the shamanic journey work? Does the information make positive changes in a person’s life? If so, who cares if we are making it up?” (Soul Retrieval, 3)

Even professionals are taken in by this “reasoning.” In “Mama Lola; A Voodoo Priestess in Brooklyn,” Anthropologist Karen McCarthy Brown explains how and why she took a leap into Voodoo”

•    “Although the Iwa [spirits] who possess Alourdes [the Voodoo priestess] are often called sen-yo (saints), they are not saintly types in the traditional Christian sense. For example, in stories about the soldier spirit Ogou/Saint James, he not only liberates his people but also betrays them. Ezili Danto/Mater Salvatoris, the mother, cradles and cares for her children but also sometimes lashes out at them in rage. The Voodoo spirits are not models of the well-lived life; rather, they mirror the full range of possibilities inherent in the particular slice of life over which they preside. Failure to understand this has led observers to portray the Voodoo spirits as demonic or even to conclude that Voodoo is a religion without morality—a serious misconception.” (pg.6)

However, McCarthy doesn’t explain why this is a “misconception.” It is amazing that while knowing that these spirits aren’t “saintly types,” she would subject herself to them. Nor does she attempt to think through the philosophical implications of her ill-conceived leap. If the spirits are the highest form of being and they aren’t very moral, then it would be pure hubris to try to be more moral. This might even be offensive to the spirits.

What happens to societies who have made this leap into spiritism? In the short run, they might find some immediate benefits. The spirit world is real and powerful. However, there is the fine print. It is no accident that we have no examples of spiritistic societies that have advanced, having hospitals, justice systems, and charities. Instead, these societies are horribly violent – a testimony to the type of beings that spiritism invokes.

Millions are uncritically taking hold of the spirit world through witchcraft and the New Age. Why? It feeds our self-respect and frees us from our drab life like sleeping with one of the Beetles. My involvement with the Ouija Board gave me access to a power and a wisdom which I had lacked, at least I had thought this way.

What protection do we have from such powerful allurements? Reason alone doesn’t seem to help. It should when we see the deplorable state of those cultures which have adopted paganism or spiritism or the rapid decline of the West as it has rejected its Christian roots. Instead, we demand results right now. In The Secret Ways of the Lakota, Black Elk, a Sioux shaman boasts   , “You don’t have to wait for five years [for your prayer to be answered]…The spirit comes and takes me somewhere.”

However, “Have Your Best Life Now” has taken over the thinking of a good portion of the Church, which no longer have patience for waiting or enduring. Instead of knowing God, we want to experience God right now, and have begun to practice the techniques of the “Desert Fathers” and other mystics to alter our brain states. Never mind that the Bible never speaks a word about “experiencing” God. Do we even know what we are experiencing when we claim to “experience” God.

Instead, the Scriptures warn us to not go beyond what is written. When we do, we are tasting forbidden fruits:

•    1 Corinthians 4:6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

In our pride, we are tempted to believe that we understand more than what we do:

•    Proverbs 3:5–7 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. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

The demons are willing to always satisfy our immediate needs, whatever it requires to haul in their catch:

•    Isaiah 8:19–20 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn [light].

Who are we to trust? The spirit world is quite appealing. It understands our needs and knows how to satisfy them. I have dialogued with many unsuspecting witches. While they are aware of evil “entities,” they naively trust in their intuition

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE REJECT THE BIBLICAL BELIEF IN THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE IN FAVOR OF THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE

This is what happens when we reject the only objective basis to value human life —God—above mosquitoes and the COVID virus.

In “Confessions of an Antinatalist Philosopher,” these sentiments have become increasingly popular:

•    I would be pleased to see no one to have children, because that would be a rational thing to do. Reproduction carries risks to the possible future individuals. All lives are occasionally miserable, some lives are predominantly miserable, and individuals may think, justifiably, that their lives have no meaning. My reason suggests that it would be unwise and unkind to bring new people into existence and thereby expose them to these risks. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bioethicist-pushes-human-extinction-in-prestigious-journal

The philosopher calls his proclamation “My reason.” However, therefore is nothing reasonable about this. The value of human beings cannot be determined by reason or by laboratory findings but only by Divine revelation.

Consequently, when the Biblical God is rejected, so too are we rejected along with our ability to argue against such foolishness.

Some atheists believe they can retain the belief in the surpassing value of humans based on our superior intellect or creativity. However, this idea is littered with problems:

1. There is no reason to believe that, even if we do have a superior intellect, that this means that we are more valuable than the virus.

2. Valuable to whom?

3. Even if this does make us more valuable, this would mean that some humans are less valuable and more disposable than others.

Better to re-think our Savior!

DOES GOD HAVE A DETAILED PLAN FOR OUR LIVES, AND HOW WOULD KNOWING THIS BE IMPORTANT?

God does have a detailed plan for our lives, and I think that it is very important for us to acknowledge this and its implications:

Psalm 57:2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

Psalm 138:7–8 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.

The fact that Our Lord has a detailed plan for our lives points to His overriding concern and love for us. He cares for every little detail, even the number of hairs on our heads:

Matthew 10:29–31 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Because He loves and esteems us so highly, we trust Him to take care of even the smallest matters. Therefore, we need not worry:

Isaiah 43:1–5 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you…

Nevertheless, we do fear. This is why our Lord encourages us to not fear. What better assurance can we have that He has demonstrated His love for us even when we were His enemies (Romans 5:8-10). We also need not fear because He is our redemption, salvation, and sanctification. Consequently, we are safe in Him, embraced by His love:

Colossians 1:21–22 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

He intends to make us “holy and blameless,” and has guaranteed it by making us His workmanship:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We need not worry about the choices we make and whether we will succeed. We can cast all our cares upon Him because He really cares about us (1 Peter 5:7). Our Lord is even sovereign over our efforts and obedience:

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

It’s all in the hands of our Savior. This frees us from self-concern, self-trust, and the pressures to prove ourselves. On a grander level, for those who have committed their lives to Jesus, it’s all about Him and not about us:

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

As we continue to embrace this truth, we can begin to rest in Him, knowing that He is in complete control of our lives (Romans 8:28), far more so than our doctor or our advisor.

We need only meditate on these truths and commit ourselves to them:

Psalm 37:4–7 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…