Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:8
“God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally — “Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey.” That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are a matter of indifference, we have to sit closely to all those things; if we do not, there will be panic and heartbreak and distress. That is the inwardness of the overshadowing of personal deliverance.
The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on Jesus Christ’s errands, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, Do not be bothered with whether you are being justly dealt with or not. To look for justice is a sign of deflection from devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice we will begin to grouse and to indulge in the discontent of self-pity — Why should I be treated like this?
If we are devoted to Jesus Christ we have nothing to do with what we meet, whether it is just or unjust. Jesus says — Go steadily on with what I have told you to do and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from my deliverance. The most devout among us become atheistic in this connection; we do not believe God, we enthrone common sense and tack the name of God on to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts.”
Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1963) reading for 27 June. Special thanks to Daily Meditations reader and Aussie mate, Josh Reid, for alerting me to today’s gem of a thought!
Do you live, give, serve, and love in a way that shows you trust God to look after and guard your life? Today’s post from Oswald Chambers reminds us that we need to treat as “a matter of indifference” all the property and resources we have. Instead of trusting in them to guard our lives, we trust that “wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives.”
People often say, yes, but how do I do this practically? How is this lived out by ordinary people so our lives exhibit generosity and trust? Jenni and I would say live on a mina (three month’s income, cf. Luke 19:11-27) and store up the rest in heaven. That way you have cash flow and can’t trust in yourself. This is where people become “atheistic” without realizing it.
Does your financial house look like the world rather than the Word? To be “atheistic” is to show that you are using finances to guard your life rather than allowing generosity to define your life. You have become a reservoir instead of a river, a container rather than a conduit. Chambers points us to the better way. We’ve found it’s the only way to live.
What most people fail to realize is that living any other way actually removes us from His deliverance. Their decision creates a self-fulfilling prophecy for them. They choose common sense which removes them from dependence on His care. Chambers acknowledges that this impacts even the most devout. Don’t let it get you.