Self Suffiency

Recently, while on vacation in the mountains, we stopped at a church yard sale. I love a good deal and found a book for twenty-five cents by an author I've followed on social media for years. The book is None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different from Us (and Why That's a Good Thing) by Jen Wilkin, and its content is rich.

Although I haven't finished the book yet, one chapter especially stood out to me. Jen talks in depth about how God is self-sufficient: "Our God is a God of no needs." She explains that while we humans often like to think we are—or can become—self-sufficient, the reality is that our limitations create needs.

Jen writes:

"We are not needy because of sin; we are needy by divine design. Certainly, we can need in sinful ways, and we habitually confuse needs with wants, but we were not created to be self-sufficient. Nor were we re-created in Christ to be so. Sanctification is the process of learning increasing dependence, not autonomy."

As much as we like to believe the lie that we can do everything on our own, the reality is that we need one another and, most importantly, we need God. No one is truly successful or sufficient on their own.

Even though I know this to be true, I still find myself slipping into old patterns of striving for independence and self-sufficiency at times. During a recent difficult trial, I was quickly reminded of how desperately I need God each day—and how much I need the people He has lovingly placed around me. It reinforced the truth that He alone is self-sufficient, and I experience far more peace when I bring all my needs, both big and small, to Him. And wow, did God show up and provide for my every need!

To better understand that God has no needs, Psalm 50:7-15 puts it this way:

7 "O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God!

8 I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer.

9 But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens.

10 For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.

13 Do I eat the meat of bulls? Do I drink the blood of goats?

14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.

15 Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory."

We serve a personal God who desires our hearts and a relationship with us. Part of a healthy relationship with Him is recognizing that He has no needs, while we were created to depend on Him for ours.

What needs—both big and small—can you bring to Him today? In what areas of your life can you stop striving and instead trust that God will provide exactly what you need?

What a gift—and what a relief—it is to trust our Creator to care for us in all the details of life. ❤️