“There’s no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your boot-straps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn’t guarantee life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole.” Psalm 49.7-9
Waking up after a big event or two can be a downer. The excitement is gone, a new with fog, and drizzle, hangs in the air. A natural reaction is to step back on focus on the immediate task of the day, survival.
Is survival what life is all about? Will this focus provide the means to getting the most out of life? Is there more to day to day living?
No, no, and yes.
This Psalm clearly articulates an ongoing theme of how fruitless it is to focus on self-rescue. We cannot save ourselves and this is a good thing! Being unable to save oneself is a very good thing to know, realize, accept, and internalize. Focusing on survival ensures a self-god focus that is inherently a black hole. We cannot do it, period. The big question is, are we willing the concept go? Completely?
If one takes the emotional and intellectual steps of letting go, several emotions come; fear of the unknown, uncertainty about the future, and pressures of the immediate. It does one no good to let go unless one is holding on to something else.
God is the “something else”. Letting go of my survival is the first step in holding on to God. God promises an awesome life for each of us to exercise faith in him. How does one let go?
Paul, in Romans 12, gives us the answer: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.”
