Why Does It Often Take A Crisis Before We Totally Surrender Our Lives To God?

• A disintegrating marriage
• One of our kids on drugs
• A failed business venture
• Cancer

My guess is that total surrender to God is not something that comes easily for you, especially if you are the kind of person who can "make things happen" rather easily.

After all, why bother trusting God when you can pull things off so effortlessly on your own?

St. Paul, a man of no meager ability, also struggled with total dependence upon God. The fact that he was the product of an enviable pedigree, possessed the equivalent of two or three Ph.D's, and had political connections that would be the envy of any power broker, made dependency upon God just that much more difficult.

After all, if anyone could pull things off on their own, it was Paul.

SO… GOD BROUGHT HIM TO THE BRINK…

"We do not want you to be uninformed… about the hardship we suffered… We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life… Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death… "

TO TEACH HIM THE IMPORTANCE OF DEPENDENCY UPON GOD:

"But this happened that we might not rely upon ourselves but on God… " (2 Corinthians 1:8, 9)

So… if you tend toward cool-headed self-reliance that pushes God to the edges of your daily life, hold on to your hat:

Your loving Father is committed to arranging the circumstances in your world

• to get your attention, or
• to take you to the brink, if necessary:

IN ORDER TO TEACH YOU "NOT TO RELY ON YOURSELF BUT ON GOD."
Facts of the Matter: Daily Devotionals.   "Enjoy Your Coffee"

Michael Stanley

Be sure and visit The Corner Market-ing Blog