THE ILLUSION OF AUTONOMY
“Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it? As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood!” Isaiah 10:15 NIV
If you are an avid observer of the present times, you can tell that we are witnessing a progressive life stance of humanism.
This is a process in which human beings affirm the right and responsibility to give meaning to their own lives and work toward a more humane society through reason, science, and compassion — apart from God.
You can see such things manifest in the laws we pass, the radical but morally wrong decisions we choose to embrace, the instant gratification that ministers to our lusts and confusions, and the denial of both counsel and substantive evidence of things that once kept society in better shape than it is now.
In our theme scripture, this is what the Lord says to the Assyrians, who were on a similar tangent as we are today: a tool cannot boast of its strength if it is not carried by a power outside of itself to fulfill its task. The same is true of us, the created. From the breath in our lungs, to the sky turning day or night, to the ability to sleep while everything continues functioning with no external input whatsoever, to the bones forming inside a woman’s womb at conception; all of this is evidence that we are only tools in the hand of the Creator.
Child of God, the quest for meaning is one that will never cease until Christ returns. It is true that there are many voices in the world that lead in many directions, but I am persuaded of an even truer thing: our hearts cannot find rest until they rest in God. Selah.
Prayer: My Father, I thank you for this truth. Many are the voices competing for my attention as your child, yet by your Spirit, I am led through the pastures of righteousness. It is by your grace that I am what I am, and by faith I hold on perpetually to the promise of rest for eternity, through Christ Jesus, who endured death for my sake. Amen.
CI.
RELATED RESOURCES
• Acts 17:28
• 1 Corinthians 4:7
• John 15:5
