Relying On A Third Party

It can be a humbling and an even stressful experience when you’re relying on a third party. People who throw parties and hire outside companies to take care of the catering or the entertainment understand how nail-biting it can be. You can do all the prep work: the invitations, the cleaning, the decorating, and all the arrangements down to the very detail, but if the caterer and the entertainment don’t show up, there won’t be much of a party to have. You do your part and then pray that they do theirs!

But vice-versa, they are relying on you, as well. The caterers may have stayed up all night cooking and baking. The entertainment might have spent hours upon hours practicing to get it all audience-ready. They might have been working hard to get their part done and praying that you have done the same.

In situations like this, each party only has to do one thing: their own part. They are dependent on each other, but there’s an understanding that they don’t control each other. But if there is a mutual desire to see a successful party, neither of them will ever have to worry. They can be confident in each other to come through.

You can prepare your horses for battle, 

but only the Lord can give you the victory.

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭21:31‬ ‭ERV‬‬

http://bible.com/406/pro.21.31.erv

It’s a similar experience when you labor with God. We are like the hosts of the party. We do our part and ‘prep the horses’, so to speak. We do all we know to do and are able to do, knowing that we are completely reliant on Him to bring the party! We set the scene, but He brings the ‘food and the fun’!

It’s a beautiful partnership, really. God always intended us to work with Him. He will never ask us to ‘host a party’ and then ask us to make the whole thing happen by ourselves. He’s designed it so He actually handles the harder part. It’s easy to ‘prep the horses’, but not so easy to ‘win the battle’.

I think He’s made it this way because:

1) He doesn’t want us to ever think we’re all on our own with things. He will never assign things to us without including Himself in the execution and success of it. It’s never all on us to ‘throw the party’.

2) He never wants the success to ever go to our heads and make us proud and self-reliant.

3) He wants to fellowship with us! Great fun can be had in throwing a party with someone. And you can really get to know someone when you work with them. He wants us to ‘do life’ with Him, not without Him. 

So ‘prep your horses’. Prepare like a host would. Do your part. And know that you can fully rely on your Third Party to come through. After all, a party is only a Party when He shows up!