God is Self-Sufficient

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Exodus 3:14-15

What does Self-Sufficient mean?

Here we go again with some big words that need defining. Listen, this is good stuff to help you understand more deeply the truth of who God is and how he operates. So, let’s do it!

Self-Sufficient is a simpler way of describing his Aseity. Aseity comes from Latin, broken down it’s a = "from" and se = "self", plus -"ity". It is the property by which a being exists of and from itself. Meaning, God sustains himself, and he does not depend on us or anything else for anything. His existence (beginning and end), his character, and his reasons for being are all within himself.

Because God is self-sufficient, we can fully rely on Him; which is something he seems to constantly need to remind us of, through-out all of history.

In Exodus 3:14-15 God says to Moses “I AM who I AM.” He commanded Moses to tell the Israelite's “’The Lord, The God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

The Hebrew for I AM is YHWH or, if you Americanize it, Yahweh. It comes from the Hebrew verb “haya” which means “to be.” YHWH is the most holy name possible for God and it is declaring that the God of Israel is the source of everything.

I feel in awe of our YWHW when I dive in and see the beauty and meaning behind his different names that define his character. To take that a step further, I’ve heard people say that the sound of your breath can be described as YHWH; like it’s an onomatopoeia. How cool that our very breathe speaks of God, the self-sufficient creator of everything.

Evidence in Scripture

I want to touch on a few more places in scripture where we can find evidence for this. Google can be a great source for answers, but we cannot rely on it like we do the Bible. The Bible is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16-17) and we can rely on it as our foundation for everything.

Turn first to Genesis 1:1; “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” We are talking about the dawn of creation here and God already existed. Nobody else is mentioned, nothing else is helping him with this project to build a world with all the things he put in it. It was God, solus deus.

Now let’s look at John 5:26. We’re in the middle of a passage talking about the authority of Jesus, but in this verse, it points directly to the God who is self-sufficient (emphasis mine). “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” Because God the Father and God the Son, as part of the Holy Trinity with the Holy Spirit as one, they both sustain their own lives and aren’t dependent upon another for anything.

And now for Colossians 1:15-20. Once again, we are talking about Christ, Jesus, but he is described as “the image of the invisible God”. And to me that, coupled with the technicality of the Trinity, we are learning about God at the same time as learning about Jesus. Verse 16 says that by God all things were created, they were created through him and for him. Verses 17 points out that God is before all things and holds everything together.

Without God, YHWH, and his aseity, we are and we have nothing.

We Are Dependent Upon God

God may not need us, but we surely need him as we need air in our lungs and water in our bodies to survive. However, we often forget this.

We try to do things on our own, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, press through the pain and hustle to make it happen on our own. And we’re exhausted. Our tanks are depleted and burnt out from running on full cylinder for far too long.

None of that is what God intended. What God created originally in the Garden of Eden was a life of constant companionship. He walked with Adam and Eve, talked with them, listened to them. He provided food and shelter, companionship of himself and for each other. God gave them a purpose and a task. There is no mention of hardship and striving and doubt, until that snake appeared and ruined it all. God gave them everything they needed, and it was perfection. That was his original will for us.

When Eve tried to take her wisdom and pleasure into her own hands, perfection ceased. It is a striking image that doing it on your own for what you think may be best, can be disastrous. We are all suffering to this day because of that one action, it’s quite the ripple effect, isn’t it?

There are many scriptures warning against pride in the Bible. Pride that we can achieve things like wisdom and pleasure on our own. Take a look at Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 11:2, and Romans 11:18-20. They all speak of the folly of pride, the folly of thinking we can take care of ourselves without God.

Even self-help and self-care has become misconstrued from God’s original intent. He tells us to rest in him, to lean on him, to trust in him and he will take care of everything. True self-care is spending time with God, resting in his word and presence, letting go of the pressures of the world. It looks like setting down our struggles and striving to rest simply in the self-sufficient God who is not shaken by our problems.

What that practically looks like is and should be different for everybody to an extent. But the main point is that we are acknowledging our reliance upon YHWH. Put down your pride and humble yourself before God, he will show you grace and favor when you do (James 4:6-8).

Prayer:

YHWH, You are everything that we need. Nothing good has been created that you didn’t lay a hand on and you created it all with the original will for perfect goodness with you. You are able to sustain us and not be dragged down by our burdens and our pride. It is good and right that you are self-sufficient. I am so grateful for that. I’m grateful you do not change. I place down my hustle and pride today at your feet and choose instead to rest in you. ______________________________________________________________________ Hey sweet lady, we want to take a quick minute to guide your next steps with the scripture and application portion. We believe that in order to truly grow closer to God, we need to spend time dwelling on what he’s trying to teach us and not rush through it. Take time to truly get to know him better by sitting in what he’s trying to teach you this week. That’s where your faith will grow.

Scripture for Deeper Study:

1. Exodus 3:14-15

2. John 5:26

3. Genesis 1

Application:

• Do you find yourself trying to do it all on your own and simply asking God to bless what you’ve got going on? If so, take time to sit in quiet with God today and lay down your pride. Ask for forgiveness and rest in His sufficient presence.

• Reflect on times you have clung to God to sustain you. Was it only in times of great suffering or have you managed to remember him when things are good too?

• Reflect on how you do self-care and self-help. Are you relying on yourself for that and leaving God out of the equation? Whether you’re soaking in a tub of oils and salts, walking in the sun, going to bed early, or removing toxic things from your lives, God can and should be involved in that process. Evaluate today how you can incorporate him if you find you’ve left him out.