Implied in the idea of rescue is the idea that the person in need of rescue is not able to save themselves.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t try, right?
In studying Isaiah, I was surprised to find that there is one criticism God has of his people that outweighs all the rest: self-sufficiency. Otherwise known as my-do-it-ism, which is the belief that doing it yourself is your first and best option and is a condition I’ve suffered from since the words could leave my mouth. I’d always thought God cared more about idols and practicing the Sabbath and caring for the needy. But no: time and again, Isaiah lays into God’s people for living as though they didn’t need God.
This hits a little close to home because, um, I’m American. A firstborn, rural-living one, nonetheless.
Our culture breeds, even glorifies, self-sufficiency. We’ve got retirement savings (ok, well, maybe we USED to have retirement savings before the crash…), we’ve got doctors and medication, we’ve got shelf-stable food items…we’ve got everything, and we are used to first looking to our resources when we are in need. Speaking for myself, at least. When I’m hungry, I open the fridge. If there were no food, I’d go to the store. If I had no money, I’d use my credit card. Maybe borrow from a friend. I would exhaust all possibilities and then I would think to pray. I’m not saying this is how it should be…I’m saying this is how it IS.
There are days I wish I had nothing, so I had to rely on God more. Not that it would be an easier life, but sometimes I wonder what I’m missing out on by having everything I need. And sometimes I don’t wonder…I know. We often relegate the label of materialism to people who want more and love “stuff”; but we are also guilty of materialism if our “stuff”, our resources, is our primary trust.
Isaiah 22 contains a really vivid picture of self-sufficiency. Here is the background on the passage, found in 2 Chronicles 32:1-5:
Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it, and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the Millo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance.
As a city, Jerusalem was always vulnerable because of its weak water supply. We look at that and say “that’s bad”. God looked at it and said “that’s good”: every day the people of Jerusalem were forced to rely on God for their survival. Hezekiah’s engineering feat of securing the water supply must have been celebrated by all the people, they must have worshipped God with something like “God, we thank you for enabling us to complete this great achievement”. But the day that water supply was secured, they walked away from a lifestyle of faith. Not deliberately, not turning their back on God…but by increasing their reliance on their own resources, they decreased their reliance on God.
Here’s what Isaiah 22.8-11 says:
In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
I have a hard time tying up this idea all nice and neat. I know that when we act in the belief that we have to save ourselves because no one else will, we’re living in self-sufficiency. But after that, it gets a little fuzzy. Where does faith end and our God-given brains and hands begin? I don’t know. But I know self-sufficiency is something I’m guilty of, something that is keeping me from more fully entering into a life of faith, and I need to learn to live otherwise. I need to learn to look to God as my Rescuer more often, to recognize that my own resources are not enough.
I know this is getting REALLY long, but here’s a little story from this last week that goes with this: I’ll try to keep it short.
I have allergy-induced asthma. I developed it one day in high school after petting my friend’s cat. I’ll spare you my entire medical history, but basically, in this and a few other ways, my immune system is over-sensitive — to make up for my being insensitive in other ways, I suppose – and over-reacts to everything. It is dysfunctional. (And no, I am not calling all you sensitive people dysfunctional…) I wish I could talk some sense into it.
The other week I heard about a doctor who might be able to do just that. The possibility of not having to deal with allergies, asthma and chronic sinus infections made me so excited, so hopeful. It’s not something I deal with everyday, but to never have to deal with it? Sounds great.
So remember back on Monday when I was thinking about what God has rescued me from? And what I have not yet been rescued from? Well, this whole thing came to mind. And it occurred to me how crazy it was that I was hoping for this doctor to rescue me, when I hadn’t even gone so far as to ASK God to rescue me…how crazy it was that it hadn’t even crossed my mind to ask God for help, I had just immediately turned to conventional and alternative medicine and was waiting to exhaust those resources.
Asking God for healing isn’t normally my thing…obviously. I kind of see sickness as a physical manifestation of our broken, sinful spiritual condition and figure I’ll be free of sickness when I’m free of sin, so you know, not in this lifetime. But this time I asked. First I told him I was sorry that I had looked first to my own resources and then I asked him to heal me.
There was no magical feeling, just tears of conviction. Am I healed? Have I been rescued? Well, “yes” and “I don’t know”. I was healed of some of my self-sufficiency in this area. I was rescued from a very-small manifestation of my inclination to trust in the material resources around me. That much I know. But the asthma? Hard to say. I stopped taking my meds and have been OK. Atypical of the last couple months, but not of the last couple years, so…? In many ways, I see the actual healing as an added bonus…the big thing for me was asking.
