The One Who Cannot Fail Us
\nCopyright 2012 by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n
The deepest human needs are answered by God. This statement seems pretty simple and straightforward. Why, then, do so many believers still try to dig their own wells? Why do we endlessly seem to be trying to fill Pascal\u2019s \u201cGod-shaped hole\u201d with anything and everything but God?<\/p>\n
The obvious answer is that we feel God will somehow fail us if we count on Him alone. The world offers answers that seem so tangible: the money, the romantic partner, the drug, the fame. All these things and many more are visible panaceas for what ails us. But panaceas are all they are and not very good ones at that. The cure and its Source lie elsewhere. As followers of Jesus Christ we are supposed to know this and act accordingly yet, so often, we do not.<\/p>\n
Part of the problem is the control issue. We mistakenly think we can find our fulfillment through something we can control and all the visible idols lure us into thinking that we can control them and have our needs met on our terms. But as any alcoholic, sexaholic or compulsive gambler can tell you, being in control of false gods is a cruel illusion. In time every idol we continue to worship ends up controlling us. There are no exceptions.<\/p>\n
Being controlled is not inherently wrong. In fact we who call ourselves Christians are to be voluntarily under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is here that we uncover the core problem and that is simply this; we do not trust our God to be better than the false ones to whom we have bowed. It is not just that we are afraid what He wants to do with us might run contrary to what we feel is necessary to meet those deeply felt needs. More than that Christians fear that God will fail them like all the other people and things they tried did. We think God will not come through.<\/p>\n
But He will. <\/p>\n
If we are abandoned to Him He will not, indeed, cannot fail us. It is not in the nature of divinity to fail. Our Lord is the only perfect being. We will let Him down but He will never let us down because we are dealing with One whose nature is such that He is incapable of failure. If we truly submit our needs to Him over time He will meet them just as surely as day follows night. This \u201cdivine reliability\u201d is a theologically self-evident truth that we can and must apply to our hearts if we are to have our legitimate needs met in a legitimate way. The word \u201creliability\u201d is not one we often ascribe to God but it applies here in the ultimate sense of the term. We can count on God because His faithfulness to fill, sustain and heal us is grounded in the very reality of who He is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The One Who Cannot Fail Us Copyright 2012 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved The deepest human needs are answered by God. This statement seems pretty simple and straightforward. Why, then, do so many believers still try to dig their own wells? Why do we endlessly seem to be trying to fill Pascal\u2019s \u201cGod-shaped hole\u201d… <\/p>\n