This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “The Great Examination”, promises that believers can achieve complete reliance on God alone by eliminating all trust in “natural virtue” or circumstances, claiming that God’s “almighty power” will work through those who are “right with him” and that “the weaker you are, the better.”
Here’s what complete reliance on God’s almighty power actually delivered:
“You need rigorous self-examination,” her pastor counseled earnestly. “Are you relying on yourself in any way? God’s almighty power will work through you if you put yourself in the proper place. The weaker you are, the better. Do you truly believe God will manifest his wonderful life through you?”
Amanda’s marriage was disintegrating after her husband’s affair. Instead of seeking practical help, she was offered spiritual dependency as the solution. Complete reliance on God alone would trigger divine intervention in her marriage crisis.
Amanda embraced this framework desperately. She avoided marriage counseling or legal advice, focused on eliminating all reliance on her own judgment or circumstances. She prayed for miraculous restoration, believing that complete dependence on God would produce supernatural marriage healing.
For months, Amanda avoided practical steps that might indicate self-reliance. She didn’t consult attorneys about divorce proceedings, didn’t protect financial assets, didn’t discuss custody arrangements. Such actions would demonstrate lack of faith in God’s ability to restore her marriage supernaturally.
But the promised divine manifestation was a devastating delusion.
Amanda’s husband continued his affair, moved out, filed for divorce. Her spiritual weakness and complete reliance on God produced zero miraculous intervention. The “almighty power” that was supposed to work through her surrender was entirely absent when she needed it most.
Meanwhile, Amanda’s friend Lisa approached her own marital crisis with zero expectation of divine intervention. When Lisa discovered her husband’s gambling addiction, she didn’t wait for God’s almighty power or examine her spiritual condition. She immediately sought professional help from addiction specialists, financial advisors, family therapists.
Lisa’s approach included significant “reliance on natural virtue and circumstances”—she trusted professional expertise, legal protection, evidence-based treatment approaches. She didn’t expect God’s power to work through her weakness but used her intelligence and resources to address the crisis practically.
When Amanda’s divorce became final, she felt like a complete spiritual failure. Had her unbelief prevented miraculous restoration? Was her reliance insufficient? Her pastor suggested she hadn’t truly surrendered, but Amanda knew she’d sacrificed everything for divine intervention that never came.
Where was God’s almighty power that was supposed to work through her weakness? Where was the divine manifestation that complete reliance was meant to produce?
Amanda’s breakthrough came when she stopped waiting for God to manifest through her weakness and started using her actual strengths and resources. She returned to college, rebuilt her career, created stable life for her children through practical planning and professional support.
The power that actually transformed Amanda’s situation wasn’t divine almighty power working through spiritual weakness but human capability channeled through education, career development, and community support.
The silence where God’s wonderful life was supposed to manifest revealed the truth: there was no almighty power waiting to work through spiritual weakness. Only human strength and professional resources that actually solved problems when properly utilized.
Reflection Question: When has relying on your actual strengths and professional resources been more effective than seeking divine power through spiritual weakness?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 