The diving industry has a common safety practice called “the buddy system”. Since the human body is not designed to be underwater for prolonged periods of time divers must employ procedures, calculations, and equipment to aid in their underwater exploration. And if something fails in those procedures, calculations, or equipment divers are exposed to a higher than normal risk of injury or death. That is where the buddy system is effective as dive buddies can assist each other in monitoring their dives and help out in times of need. However, there is another type of diving that ignores the safety principles of having a dive buddy and relies on oneself – solo diving.
The testimony of many solo divers is that they are frustrated by being burdened with another diver. Invariably, these divers would be buddied-up with strangers. Their buddies get them lost, or have equipment problems, or run low on air, thus making the dives less than pleasurable. This focusing on the negative aspects of having a buddy, leads to them not trusting their buddies at all. Soon thereafter, they seek any way possible to be able to solo dive.
The desire to be self-reliant and independent is part of our fallen human nature. Let me explain by personal example. I was raised in a Catholic family. But once I went to college and lived on my own, I was bombarded by the world’s atheists, evolutionists and Buddhists, just to name a few. My faith waned, and when my mother died I became angry at the injustice of God taking such a kind and caring person out of this world prematurely, while others who did terrible things in society lived long lives. That bitterness was magnified when I saw religious hypocrites, church scandals and false prophets in the media. I decided to turn away from my Christian upbringing. I distanced myself from God. I trusted only in myself as I went “solo” through my spiritual life.
However, just as solo divers wish they had a buddy when things go wrong, so do people in their own lives wish they had someone to turn to when things go wrong. Sometimes it is too late to understand that self-reliance is vanity. In Proverbs 3:5 King Solomon tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” Turn your trust over to Jesus Christ. Let Him be your guide. As Jesus says in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” When we go at our spiritual life alone, just like diving alone, we lose the guidance and security of a trusted “buddy” and we expose ourselves to risk. That most trusted “buddy” is the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in Him and do not go solo.