It has been my observation while reading Psalms 50 that God is fully self-sufficient. He says – “I know every bird in the mountains, the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in the world” (Psalms 50:11-12). In this single observation a core truth of God quietly appears. Asaph is telling us that God is self-sufficient (self-contained, stand-alone, all-encompassing). The one true living God is contained within himself. All life is in God and from God, whether we are discussing the lowly simple prokaryotes, the light from the sun, or intelligent life force of an angel, everything emanates from God. This life that God has, was not given to him, it was not a gift to him, he did not take it from something else, it simply exists in Him always – period. If there was another being that granted the gift of life to the one true living God, or any other gift, then the other being that granted the gift to God would be superior to the one true living God. Our God would not be whom we think he is.

If the one true living God contains everything, does that also mean that he was the source of evil? No, evil is rebellion against the one true living God. Created beings rebelled against the one true living God – their rebellion is the source of evil. It is important to observe that evil is a demonstration of free will gone awry – yet evil has boundaries put into place by the one true living God. Lucifer tells us – “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most-High” (Isaiah 14:13-15 paraphrased). This pride, expressed by Lucifer, is the beginning of all rebellion. He was rebelling against the self-sufficiency of God – trying to take authority over God.

It can be difficult to wrap our mind around the notion that God has no need. God does not need any help, support, workforce, equipment, supplies, transportation, wealth, encouragement, or anything else. There is nothing we can think of or create that he does not already have. God is self-sufficient. For us to develop an idea that God has a need for something is to assert that He is incomplete. There is no necessary external requirement for something he must be given to complete who he already is. He is absolutely, unequivocally, perfectly, forever complete. To think that we can add to God’s wealth, knowledge, power, or any other aspect of God is how Lucifer got into trouble (see Matthew 4:1-11)

If God is 100% self-sufficient then there is nothing above him, nothing beyond him, he has no need to be elevated — he is already there. He cannot be elevated to a higher position than he already holds, he cannot be demoted. He just is. God says – I am the Lord thy God, I change not!

The truth is, when we step away from our own self-confidence; we find it easy to take on the yolk of Jesus and spend our life engaged in honoring God. The Good news is that God, who needs no one, chooses to walk with us. How gracious is this God, how patient He is with us. We are not competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, rather we rejoice that our competence comes from God (paraphrased 2 Corinthians 3:5). The one true living God reveals Himself to us and He is not silent …  He summons the heavens; the heavens respond by proclaiming his righteousness and self-reliance …  God says — I created the song of every bird in the mountains, the insects in the fields are mine … every grain of sand in the world is mine, and everything else that is in the world … if you call upon Me with a righteous cause, I will hear you and deliver you (paraphrased from Psalms 50:3-15).

I choose Jesus.