Psalm 16

There are no ambulances in Kenya to come get you if there is a problem. There is no emergency number to call if you have a heart attack, get in a car wreck, or if your house is broken into. If you become very sick and don’t have a car, how will you get to the hospital? Will a kind neighbor fasten you to a stretcher and haul you down the mountain? Maybe, but you probably won’t survive the long journey.

Here in Kenya, it is known that sickness and accidents lead to death. There are no insurance policies or guarantees. In America, we are surrounded by policies and strategies to ensure we will be taken care of in any situation. Because we barricade ourselves with emergency systems, good hospitals, and money, we have come to believe that these are the things that protect us. In our minds, safety and protection are up to our own ability. If we can foresee every possible negative outcome and find a way to prevent it, faith and trust in God are no longer necessary. We are then filled with anxiety when we realize that we can’t cover all our bases. Financial loss, sickness, accidents, and death will happen anyway. The systems we have in place are good, but they will never replace our total reliance on the One who provides for all our needs.

The attitude of the people here is one of total reliance on God and trust in Him to provide every breath. They recognize the fragility of life, and in some ways this means they come to value each day even more. Many people I’ve met clearly recognize that this blessing of life cannot be guarded by human means, and that health and happiness is ONLY up to God, in accordance with His will. When we take on this understanding, we can begin to see our blessings of relationships, health, and material things as belonging completely to God.

Sometimes, in America, we do come to understand that God is sovereign over our health and our lives. (It’s all a part of His plan). However, we fail to acknowledge his control over our material wealth. (And not only His control, but His complete ownership.) We cringe when we hear that our wealth belongs to God. We work hard for our money and we want complete authority over it, but the bible says otherwise. We are to submit all things to God. Jesus speaks on the subject of money throughout the New Testament, and He takes a direct approach to this topic. Luke 2: 13 says “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” In Matthew 6:21 He states that “Where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This does not mean that we hate everything we have been blessed with. But instead, we acknowledge these blessings as from God alone and we know that He gives and takes away. Our hope and joy are found in something much greater when we genuinely put Him first. If we live in this simplicity, with our eyes focused on Him, we will know contentment in times of prosperity as well as times of need (Phil 4:12). If we trust Him with our lives and our wealth, our anxiety about protecting against every possible outcome begins to fall away. The beauty of the situation is that what we have been blessed with becomes available to others who are in need. We can give without fear of not having enough for ourselves.

If we seek the Kingdom of God first, even before our safety and well being, everything else will fall into its particular order. If not, we will never know the freedom that trust in God will bring. It is only by the grace of God that our needs are provided for; in the same way that only by this grace will we take our next breath.