18. Assurance Versus Insurance
Chapter 18 Assurance Versus Insurance For thou, O Lord, art my refuge! (Psalms 91:9) This confession of faith and the deliverance that comes of it is merely acting on what the Word says. I received a revelation years ago in Louisiana before it was a law to have any form of auto insurance. The Lord began to spiritually reason with me. It occurred to me that God is sovereign over what we call “accidents.” (John 3:27) A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven; therefore, an “accident” could not come without God sending it. Since He said that if we prayed believing we would receive, then I could ask Him to keep my vehicles, and He would. I thought, “Why would I need insurance if I believed the assurance?” (Psalms 91:9-12) For thou, O Lord, art my refuge! (Notice the good confession and its resulting benefit.) Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation; (10) There shall no evil befall thee, Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent (11) For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. (12) They shall bear thee up in their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Notice that when we abide in Christ by faith, angels keep us from “accidents.” An exception to this can be a Job experience to show hidden faults (Job 32:1-2). As in Job’s case, God strictly controls the chastening and later restores what is taken. To Job was restored twice as much as he had and without insurance. God desires to be our security. (Psalms 119:22) Be surety (Hebrew: “to give or be security”) for thy servant for good. (Hebrews 7:22) By so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant. God and His promises are the believers’ assurance of provision and protection.
After seeing what the Lord was saying to me, I dropped my auto insurance. Then I called my life insurance man, and he came over. I told him that I would not need insurance anymore because God would be my assurance. He was a good Lutheran man who sincerely tried to reason with this fanatic, but to no avail. The week after I did this, I drove to a Stop-N-Go mart and went in. While I was walking down an aisle, I heard a crash that shook the store windows. I looked up to see that my car had been in a wreck without me! I went out and found a heavy old Buick’s front end wrapped around the back corner of my Datsun station wagon. The driver backed the car up a foot or so, and we both stood there speechless. The hood, grill and bumper of his car were notched back about six inches as if he had hit a big oak tree. Here is the good part. Datsun station wagons were tin boxes and could be dented with an elbow. This tank hit my car on the left rear wrap-around, plastic tail lens! I reached out and with my thumbnail scraped a piece of paint from his hood off the plastic lens, and we stood there for a moment looking at this miracle. There was not a scratch, dent, or crack on my car anywhere. Awesome God! He made my wimpy car, which should have been totaled, invincible to this old tank of a car. The assurance of God saved me from any need of insurance. The man said, “I think my brakes went out,” and then he mumbled, “They sure make ‘em better than they used to.” As I was thinking about how ludicrous that statement was, he got in his car and left. Suddenly it hit me that I missed the best chance in the entire world to witness to someone. I jumped into my car and caught him at the next red light. I grabbed some tracts out of the glove box and hurried to his door. I said, “Sir, that was a miracle.” He said, “It had to be.” I said, “I didn’t have any insurance on my car and I was trusting God to keep it and He did.” The light turned green and we parted company. Since then I have never had any insurance that covers our family, vehicles, or home other than what the law demands. We now, by law, have to have P.I.P., which covers our injuries, and P.D., which covers the other guy’s vehicle. That first wreck, or lack thereof, was an awesome testimony, but we did not plunder Egypt as we did with later wrecks. Since then, God has not always protected our vehicles or bodies, but in every case, it was to our advantage, for He healed our bodies and blessed us financially. During this time, though we sued no one, the other guy’s insurance blessed us with money for the following: to repair a motorcycle with money leftover in my pocket for a new one; to repair a Toyota pickup that needed painting anyway, with $1,500 left in my pocket; to buy two cars, one new; to buy our home; to enable us to buy and give cars to others; to enable us to give our home away; and to buy a travel trailer for a homeless woman and her son. Besides all that and more, we have not spent God’s money on many years’ worth of insurance. I can hear someone say, “But Dave, what if…?” What if what? God almighty fell off His throne? (Romans 10:11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. (Jeremiah 17:7)Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. By the grace of God, it has been almost 18 years since we have had a wreck. Praise God!
One day, in that same Datsun station wagon, I was driving along rather frustrated because I had had three flats on relatively new tires. Most people would be complaining to the manufacturer, but I believed God was in control, so I was complaining to the Lord. A little frustrated I said, “Lord, can’t you keep my tires?” He said to me very clearly, “Don’t you believe I can keep your tires?” I replied in my ignorance, “Yes, I believe you can keep them.” He replied, “Then why do you keep putting that spare back there?” To be honest, I put the spare in the trunk because it was traditional and I had not questioned it, but also, the underlying reason was in case God didn’t keep my tires. (I’m not trying to make a new doctrine on spares, just share a lesson God gave to me.) Fear and unbelief insulates us from any possibility of lack, loss, or threat.
Since we are trusting in insurances besides the Lord, we usually end up needing them. Jesus sent out His disciples in a way that would make them dependent on living by faith. He sent them without their own provision so that in their weakness His power could be proven. (Matthew 10:9-10) Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; (10) no wallet for [your] journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. Later Jesus wanted to see what they learned from this experience of depending on God’s supply. (Luke 22:35) And he said unto them, When I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, nothing. In the wilderness of man’s supply, God’s provision was evident. God starts His works when we finish ours. His power is made perfect in our weakness. That was my experience with these tires. I threw out my spare and never had another flat on that car, and the neighbors who used to borrow it, quit. The moral of that story is if you prepare for a rainy day, it will come. With the next car, I had the same experience, no flats. When I decided after many years to give it to a mission, I put the keys and title into the hand of the pastor in my living room. We walked outside, and the car was on a flat. God made His point. As long as I owned the car, putting my trust in Him, there was never a flat. In other words, trusting in God takes away the need for insurances.
Men serve insurance companies, H.M.O.s, banks and store up their treasures on earth for the security they think it gives them. (Matthew 6:19)Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal. Y2K revealed the paranoia and lack of trust in those who stored up their treasures on earth contrary to our Lord’s command. Quite a few that I showed these principles to went home to give their store away and found it full of bugs just as Jesus said, “thieves break through and steal.” Jesus told of a man who found peace in the insurance of storing up his goods in greater barns (Luke 12:18). He said to himself, (Luke 12:19-21) “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry.” His misplaced trust brought judgment. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required (Greek: “they require thy soul”) of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? (21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Notice that it was his stored up treasures that required his soul. Jesus promised the unfailing kingdom provisions to those who would store up their treasures in heaven by giving. (Luke 12:32-33)Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old (not storing up), a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. As long as we are on this earth, we can draw on our heavenly bank account if we have deposited by giving to the needs of others. “Give and it shall be given unto thee.” (Luke 6:38) If we have stored up on earth instead, the promise is that it will be stolen by thieves of one kind or another. Our heart will be on our treasures, falsely thinking them to be our security. (Luke 12:34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” (Psalms 118:8)(Jeremiah 17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. As we can see, the insurances themselves bring the curse that they are thought to relieve. God is offended with those who call themselves believers yet trust in man’s strength and insurances. This is a heart that departs from the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 16:1-6, Asa, king of Judah, put his trust in the worldly king of Syria for insurance against his enemies. This offended God who sent judgment. (2 Chronicles 16:7-9) And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. (8) Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thy hand. (9) For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars. God is eager to show signs and wonders to those who trust in Him with a perfect heart. You would think that Asa would have learned this lesson, but his trust in man cost him his life as it does for so many. (2 Chronicles 16:12-13) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. (13) And Asa slept with his fathers….
Christians justify their misplaced trust in man’s insurances not realizing that this brings the judgment in the first place. Melvin Jenkins and I were about to go to work on a large crude oil pump for Exxon. Process department had blocked it out of line and drained it, or so we thought. What we did not know was that the pressure gauge read “0” because it was broken and the drain valve though open was stopped up, so there was a little pressure still in the pump. We took the bolts out of the head plate to remove it, but it was stuck. I stood up and took about four steps away to get something to break it loose when I heard a “pop” sound and turned around to see Melvin drenched with black crude from head to foot. As he opened his eyes, he sarcastically looked at me and said, “Dave, you did this to me.” Well I could not contain myself and busted out laughing. The thought of me stepping away in the nick of time so that Melvin could get plastered was too much for me. Attempting to sound serious, he said, “Dave, you’re never going to do this to me again.” I said, “Melvin, you had better watch those self-confident statements. You know God is listening.” Then he repeated his statement and said, “Bring me up to the shower house. I have a spare set of clothes up there.” I said, “Oh, now I know why you got it instead of me.” He said, “Why?” I said, “Because I don’t have a spare set of clothes, and God knew it.” He looked at me inquisitively. I explained that planning for a catastrophe is the same as having faith for it. It also proves that you do not believe that God will protect or provide. Later that day, we were working on another pump. Melvin was next to me as we used an impact gun to take off some bolts. Suddenly slurry squirted down one of the open bolt holes and hit Melvin in the middle of his chest, leaving me untouched. He looked at me in unbelief. I playfully said, “Melvin, I told you God doesn’t like those self-confident statements,” but we both knew that God was speaking in this. We could not remember when this had happened to us before, much less twice in one day.