The Set Up: Several years ago, a well-known pastor in Africa was interviewed for an American magazine. During the interview, the subjects of faith and miracles came up. “Why,” the pastor was asked, “do the people in your congregation have such great faith that God will take care of them and that miracles happen?” “That is simple,” the pastor replied, “in my country, the people have nowhere else to go.” He went on to say, “In Nigeria, we have blessed assurance, in America you have blessed insurance.” Ouch.
His point? When things are going well, we tend to overestimate our ability to handle life and underestimate our need for God’s guidance and direction. When things are all good, we’re all good. Often, it is not the difficult times in our life that cause us to doubt God, it’s the easy times when we doubt we really need him. In Proverbs 30 we read:
…give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name. – Proverbs 30:8-9
Lent is a time of repentance. And a big part of repentance is reliance on God. It’s admitting that we fall short on our own and that we need God’s power in our lives to change. That when we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are celebrating our only hope. It is so easy to think we are doing life on our own. Lent calls us to set aside some of the things we rely on to get us through (food, social, media, etc.) and focus on Christ, our true hope. Because of our affluence in America, we can lose sight of that hope. As Moses was coming to the end of his life and his time of leading Israel, he warned them of that same thing. Don’t let God’s blessing in your life dull your sense of need for him.
Biblical passage to read: Deuteronomy 8:6-20
Reflection Questions:
• When is it easiest for you to trust God, in tough times or in good times?
• When you read Moses’ words to the people in Deuteronomy 8, why do you think he warned them about forgetting God?
• How is the Lenten season helping you to focus or re-focus on your need for Christ?
Prayer Focus: Lord, forgive me for the times when I have forgotten you because life was good, and I thought I had it on my own. Help me to remember that you are my source and my hope. May I rely on you for today and my future. Amen.