Less Self-reliant, More God Reliant

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

A QUICK INTERNET SEARCH turns up numerous articles on “7 Rules,” “10 Ways,” “4 Steps,” and “3 Skills” to teach our kids to be self-reliant. Clearly self-reliance is a value of our age. And to a certain degree, we understand the benefit of teaching our kids to be self-reliant. We don’t want to still be putting toothpaste on their toothbrush and setting out their clothes for them when they’re adults. We want them to be able to make good decisions and act on them when we’re not around. We want them to have a healthy sense of themselves as people made in the image of God for his glory that gives them the confidence to move out into the world and make a difference for Christ. But there is something more important than teaching them self-reliance.

Paul had to be taught this more important thing, and the lesson wasn’t comfortable. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul said that he had recently experienced something so dire that he expected to die. Perhaps his detractors had started a riot in Ephesus or he’d faced the prospect of execution or he’d contracted a life-threatening illness. Whatever it was, and whatever caused it in human terms, Paul was clear about the divine purpose of this trial in his life. God was not interested in teaching Paul to be more self-reliant. God intended this hardship to teach Paul to rely more fully on him. He was at work erasing any lingering sense of Paul’s own ability to grin and bear it or to struggle through difficulties on his own. God was leading Paul into a more profound awareness of his weakness, which would make him all the more receptive to God’s assurance: “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV).

Lord, I realize that your way of teaching us to rely on you more fully will likely mean that we will be reduced to having only you to rely on. And that sounds terribly uncomfortable for us and for ________. But we ask you to teach us and to teach ________ what it means to rely more fully on you instead of on ourselves.