3.203 When the Lord Leaves Us to Our Own Strength

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

I've got an image I want to plant in your mind today. Picture this: a parent and a small child. The small child trying to accomplish a seemingly small task to that child's brain, but one that the parent knows the child may not be equipped to handle.

Let's even maybe say, I don't know, riding a bike for the very first time or something like that. Now I want you to imagine the parent saying, "Here, let me just help you a little bit." And the child saying, "No, I can do it myself." The parent saying, "Please let me help." The child says, "No, I'll do it myself." So the parent lets go of the bike. One pedal, two pedal, crash.

My friends, I want you to keep that image in your mind because whether it's a bike that crashes, One thought sections as well, and this verse today is one of those just like yesterday. We are reading this week 2nd Chronicles 14 through 20, 26, and 30. Kind of an interesting combo there, but some of the stories kind of connect.

Otherwise, we're doing these one-off phrases as well. Today we're going to look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 16, and we've got yet another "A King That Didn't Finish Well". I'm going to use the New King James Version here for this verse reading in this translation.

It says, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. In this you have done foolishly. Therefore from now on you shall have wars." Now this is basically the prophet explaining to Asa that you chose to go the path of not having the Lord in your life.

Similar to the children that in their own times of wisdom say, "No, Mom, I don't need your help," or, "No, Dad, I can do it on my own." Now I want to introduce the paradox that I've been thinking about with this, because I do think it's one that perhaps members of the Church of Jesus Christ struggle with a little bit. We are taught to be self and self. We are taught to be able to do things for ourselves, to work for our own salvation, to work for our own livelihoods, to be able to take care of ourselves and our families.

And all of those are true principles. We are taught to do those things. And at the same time, we are taught to rely on the Lord.

I'm going to read a passage from the Bible. The Bible is an interesting one that could perhaps provide just a little insight to it. It seems to look that when we turn to the Lord, He turns to us.

And when we leave the Lord, He doesn't necessarily leave us, but what He does do is leave us to our own strengths and weaknesses. There are many examples in the Scriptures of armies, especially, fighting wars, where they're seemingly strengthened. My friends, I hope that we can take a lesson here from Asa and the others that we had now almost countless times inside of the Old Testament.

When we turn to the Lord, He turns to us. I hope that we can keep that perspective even in our pursuit of self and being able to take care of ourselves. I hope that we never stop asking the Lord for help in our own lives as well.

Not in a way that we're unwilling to do the work to receive the blessings, but rather in a way that we can turn to the Lord and say, "I am doing the work; I am keeping the commandments, and therefore am asking for the blessings." I know that I am stronger when I seek the Lord's strength to be added on top of mine. I hope that we can all be strong finishers here and turn to the Lord and allow him to strengthen us in our lives rather than leaving the Lord, which in turn leaves us to our own strength. And as the child with the bike trying to ride on their own, we may not be quite as strong as we thought we were.

My friends, the Lord can strengthen us regardless of our own strengths and weaknesses. May he be that for you. That is my hope for you today.

That is all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.