Adults celebrate when children learn to do something on
their own: get dressed, brush their teeth, tie shoelaces, ride a bike, walk to
school.
As adults, we like to pay our own way, live in our own
houses, make our own decisions, rely on no outside help. Faced with an
unexpected challenge, we seek out “self-help” books. All the while we are
systematically sealing off the heart attitude most desirable to God and most
descriptive of our true state in the universe. It’s what Jesus told His
disciples: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John
15:5).
The truth is that we live in a web of dependence, at
the center of which is God, in whom all things hold together. Norwegian
theologian Ole Hallesby settled on the single word helplessness as the best
summary of the heart attitude that God accepts as prayer. He said, “Only he who
is helpless can truly pray.”
Most parents feel a pang when the child outgrows
dependence, even while knowing the growth to be healthy and normal. With God,
the rules change. We never outgrow dependence, and to the extent we think we do,
we delude ourselves. Prayer is our declaration of dependence upon the
Lord.
Give Him each perplexing problem,All your needs to Him
make known;Bring to Him your daily burdens—Never carry them alone!
—Adams
Pray as if your life depended upon it. It
does!
As I read this, I thought of how my dear husband, My Love, desires me to depend on him. It is SO HARD for me. I really have a very strong independent streak. I have long believed that marriage is a gift from God to teach us more about Himself and relationship with Him. Now I see more clearly from experience how it works. My Love gives God's words to me physical form and structure. Just as he desires me to need him and trust him and rely on him... My LORD Jesus does even more.
Thank you LORD Jesus for this message. I choose to be dependent on you. Thank you for a husband who loves you. Thank you for using his heart of service and giving to teach me how to depend on you. --Amen.
Until next time...
