Habakkuk 1:11 (NLT) Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty people, whose own strength is their god.

The Prophet Habakkuk was having a conversation with God through prayer where he was complaining about the violent and the sinful condition of the people of Israel. In His answer to Habakkuk, the Lord revealed His plan to bring judgement through the Babylonians. In His frightening description of the cruel Babylonians, the Lord also described them as a people "whose own strength is their god."

The Bible is very clear about how God feels about idols. One of the very first things that the Lord warned His people about when He led them out of Egypt was that they were to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3). All throughout the New Testament, we also are warned against idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14, Colossians 3:5 and others). Most people think of idols as a carved image of wood or stone that people bow down to. But then we learn that other things such as the love of money, sexual immorality, covetousness and the like are considered idolatry by God as well. But as much as we think we know about idols and idolatry, I am sure that there are few of us who ever thought of trusting in our own strength as an idol, but God considers it so.

Of the many flesh challenges that face followers of Christ, this one is one that is entrenched in us. One of the hardest lessons for believers to learn is that they cannot trust in their own strength. Anyone who does is soon met with failure and defeat in their faith journey. When it comes to God’s standards and morals, we simply don't have it in us to be able to meet them. We are in a sad, sinful condition until we turn to the Lord Jesus in repentance so that He will forgive us, cleanse us and begin the sanctification process. All of this is done not only through the Lord's strength, but through the Lord Himself. In other words, it is Christ in you and me living in us through the Holy Spirit that gives us the strength to live the same kind of life that He did here on earth. But it is hard to let go of our control and surrender it to the Lord Jesus. We either don't know enough (because of a lack of seeking Him) or don't trust enough to cede control and stop relying on our own strength. But perhaps realizing that our own strength is a "god" that we serve other than God will make us sober enough to finally stop the fruitless and pointless attempts to live according to God's standards and morals in our own strength. May the Lord give us His strength to countermand our being bent on relying on our own strength so that we can become strong and mature in Christ Jesus and so that we can be the light and the salt of the earth as Jesus said we would be.

Pastor Joey Vazquez