The Danger of "I've Got This"

Rather than work my way into it, let me say that "I've got this" is not in the Bible. Well, actually it is, but not the way we'd like it to be.

When my children ask if I need help with dinner (yes, it happens sometimes), I answer, "No, thanks. I've got this." My husband might offer to help me carry a heavy load. "I've got this." Someone at church asks how they can pray, "No worries. I've got this." Someone offers Even forbidden fruit. Adam is standing right there, but she steps in. "No problem. I've got this." And she did.

http://ubdavid.org/advanced/new-life3/graphics/4_eve-fruit-adam-disobeys.jpg

The truth is that God created us to need Him, to rely on and desperately depend on Him, but how often we overlook the words "trust" (used 53 times in the English Standard Version) and "believe" (used 258 times in the ESV Bible). In our churches we use that as a once-upon-a-time, been-there-done-that kind of word when it's an every day, moment by moment call to trust and believe. The result, or manifestation of belief, is obedience. Our obedience to God's Word is a measure of our trust. Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:29). That's God's work? Belief?

If we don't believe God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do, we're lost. That's the requirement for pleasing God (Hebrews 11:6). And when I believe God is who He says He is, I trust Him. When I believe He will do what He says He will do, I obey--I see and understand the consequences and it makes a difference in my life.

The next time fear rises and your stomach lurches try, "God, help me trust you," instead of "This isn't that big a deal. I've got this." When life is overwhelming and the crunch is on, "God, help me believe you know how this is going to turn out and help me please you, regardless," instead of "What can I do? How can I make this happen? What if...what if...what if?"

For me it starts every morning. The mantra, "Not I, but Christ" has to run through my head all day as I choose to "live by the faith in the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20).

Next time you've "got this," give it up. That's God's work in and through you.

Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
    for emptiness will be his payment.
It will be paid in full before his time,
    and his branch will not be green.
He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
    and cast off his blossom like the olive tree. (Job 15:31-33)

Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?

"I the Lord search the heart
    and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:5-10)