Because We Rely on God

Readings:
II Chronicles 16
Acts 22:17-30

Focus:
II Chronicles 16:8: "Did not the Cushites and the Libyans have a great army with a vast number of chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your power."

For most of his life, King Asa of Judah was faithful to God, but towards the end of his life he began to rely on military might instead. So God sent the prophet Hanani to him to rebuke him, and to remind him that God's strength was sufficient. God had helped Asa defeat the larger armies of the Cushites and the Libyans merely because Asa had put his faith in God.

It is true for us as well. God may not always help us defeat our foes as we at first define them. He may not always make us beat our rivals for a job opening, or do well in an interview, or put on a perfect dinner party, or stay healthy. But when we are faced with a foe that seems to be too much for us, God's strength will be sufficient for us. We will be able to handle the problem without utterly giving up. God will help us through.

And when we are done, we will know that we have in some way succeeded, because of God. We may lose a job, or still be desperately ill, but our spirits will be unconquered, and we will have unbeatable hope and bright happiness, because of God.

When we rely on God, because we rely on God, he delivers our enemies--failure, fear, feelings of insufficiency--into our power, and overcomes them.