When we live, we live having had missing pieces and gaps in our history, our genealogy, and even for some in our immediate family unit. We look for examples around us to cling to, identify with, and find safety in. We walk in the person we’ve discovered as “us” while deciding on what the rest of that person to complete us may look like by looking to culture, society, achievers, and the ideology of success. While along the way, if we haven’t found “us” or even dislike our true identity, we may decide to live vicariously through someone else’s path rather than our own.
But what we’re missing is OUR TRUE CONNECTION TO OUR CREATOR who is our Heavenly Father. This is who we were meant to return to, for this completeness of ourselves. We stand on and identify with him because he is sovereign, he will be our certainty surrounding our very being, and he will be our assurance and our everything!
Psalm 18:2 ESV- The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
THERE IS A CONNECTION
You see there is naturally a connection all along that feels like it is missing. Ask yourself this question, “What examples around me do I look to, or want to identify with to make me a better man or woman?”. Was it from a Mother, Uncle, Father, or friend? Was it a Mentor, Teacher, or Pastor? Or in a less connected manner, was it from TikTok, a music video, a movie, or Instagram?
Did you decide- “This is who I am, so this is who I’m going to be whether I’m standing alone, or whether I’m standing fully on the examples from the hand I was dealt.”
You might have heard the phrase, “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” This is a good reason why we need to stand for something so we are not grabbing onto the nearest trend or good-looking fantasy to satisfy our self-worth. There is something empowering yet deceiving to the psyche when we can stand independently and make it happen all by ourselves so we can say- “This was all me!” “I make it happen!” “I’m my own God!”
Go on and sit down… If you’re your own God, then did you have the power to create yourself? How about others around you? Because there is one higher than ourselves who created you and others around you and every existing thing on earth. Can you explain why your body works and runs the way it does automatically? Can you control that? Have you prevented the unfortunate circumstances in life when something was suddenly taken away? Can you tell me why you’re here? And when it is you’re going to die? Right, we are not all-knowing nor all-powerful. But, we DO have a lot to learn. And what better person to be connected to than Almighty God who CAN answer, “Yes” and “Me” to all those questions?
Isaiah 45:12 ESV– I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
STANDING on YOU
Standing on you has limitations. Standing on you can take you far but only so far before we need help, we need humbling, and we need God. Though it may be easier to trust in yourself because you know what you want, and like, it doesn’t consider room for the unexpected, for the needy, or for God’s plan to be fulfilled in perhaps other’s lives. Standing on you, doesn’t need anybody and will put up walls to protect others from interfering.
STANDING ON GOD
Standing on God removes self. It shifts to his will, his purpose, his way, and him being glorified. For those who need to be in control, this will be tough for, because it’s no longer about them. And some people won’t allow for that. When we stand on God our trust shifts. We may not have all the answers but we’re now operating in faith and allowing his way to take charge. He ultimately has the best plan. The scripture says when we stand on God we stand on a solid foundation.
Matthew 7:24-25 ESV- Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
WE HAVE A CHOICE
When God is dismissed, a person either is negligent or refuses to see the obvious strength and hand greater than themselves. This can be for several reasons. Most commonly we hear that this is due to personal reasons, and experiences such as unfairness, mistreatment through life, or the desire to keep control to fulfill personal desires and agendas. Other times it’s because one needs more evidence or proof that God is even real. And oftentimes it’s just plain denial. However, we still have a choice of who we decide to put the foundation of our lives and eternity in. Think about that. If we could decide who to put the foundation of our lives and eternity in, why would we put it in ourselves when we barely know how to control our own human lives here on earth? But there is one whom we can put our earthly and eternal trust in. That is Jesus. He provided THE WAY! And with God we can stand with him and on everything great that he represents, knowing that we belong to and have the greatest source on our side, on this side, and on the other side.
