Stop the Self-Destruction

He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper. 2 Chronicles 26:5

Occasionally I’ll encounter some Christian speaker or author who promotes a health and wealth gospel, insisting that God wants us to always be wealthy, fat, and happy. God, they teach, desires to bless us with material goods and so, we simply need to believe in and claim that new car, and it will be ours. If we lack money or stuff, it’s because we’ve not expressed enough faith, and those with a lot of faith will be evident as they have a lot of stuff.

There are plenty of verses that seem to support this theology, and today’s is one of them. In the story, it certainly does appear that King Uzziah enjoyed material success because of his faithfulness to God. There are plenty of other passages, however, that reveal that God’s people encounter poverty and need, even when they’re faithful. Jesus was obedient and he still ended up on a cross. Clearly not every act of obedience ends up with the doer being rewarded with material blessings.

Taking the whole of what the Bible has to say on the subject, I do not think that we can expect to be financially rewarded for being obedient to God. I do think however, that when we follow God, we can expect that the self-destruction will stop. In following ourselves, we make ourselves miserable, hurting us and hurting those closest to us. When we follow God, however, we stop the cycle of self-destruction.

In treatment years ago, I asked God how to change. I was desperate for my life to be different. The answer was to follow him every day. If I did that, he promised that I’d never return to treatment. When I’ve followed God, I’ve enjoyed a life of joy and peace. When I’ve failed to do so, I’ve returned to the misery of following me.

God doesn’t necessarily make us rich when we follow him. That is not promised. He will, however, never lead us to destroying ourselves. And stopping that cycle of self-destruction, is exactly what some of us desperately need.