We've told God we don't need Him

Sometimes we hear of amazing miracles happening in third world places like the deaf hearing again, the blind seeing, the dead being raised, and we (the western world mainly) wonder - if that stuff is all real, then why don't we see it here too? If God's the same everywhere and in every time, why don't miracles like that happen more here?

Why doesn't God show up?

But let's think about what we have been saying to God...

Have we been worshipping Him with our lives? Have we been devoting ourselves to Him? Have we been telling Him how much we need Him and acknowledging that everything comes from Him?

Or have we been keeping Him at arms length? Have we been paying Him lip service, while going our own way?

We've told Him to stay away. We've told Him we don't need Him. We've told Him we can do it ourselves. And he's let us.

We wonder why God doesn't show up more, but He's just doing what we've asked Him to do.

We think it's too big of an ask to devote our lives to God, because we feel like we'll have to give up too much. So we'd rather go it on our own.

We rely on our own health system, our brains, our safety, our prosperity and wealth. What do we need God for? He might just ask us to give some of it up.

I can't convince anyone of their need for God alone - that comes from each of us, from our hearts to God.

And you can choose to give your life over to God now, even while you prosper, even while you seem to be ok on your own. Or you can do it the hard way, when the trouble comes.

What is going to sustain you when the things of the world crumble? When these things fade away and you realise God upheld it all, and you were putting your hope in the temporary, decaying things, the things of earth instead of the things of God's kingdom.

"O how bad it will be for you who look to the south
to Egypt for help and depend on her horses,
Who trust in its many chariots and fix your hopes on its strong drivers.
Yet you do not look to the Holy One of Israel for relief
or even bother to consult Him.
God is both wise and willing to wreak disaster;
He does not second guess Himself or backtrack on what He says.
God will amass all divine power against those who do evil
and against whoever aids and abets them.
As for Egypt, why do you rely on them?
They are great, yes,
but merely human, not God—their steeds just creatures, not spirits.
But when the Eternal reaches out and makes His power felt,
those who lent their help will stumble; those who looked for help will fall.
Together they will be routed and killed."
Isaiah 31:1-4