Depend on God
Sooner or later, we all face something that is our undoing. It demonstrates to us that we cannot be strong by ourselves. We need to depend upon a higher power. We must transfer our dependence on things, on activities, on other people, or on substances of abuse, to a sublime dependence on God. Some of us meet up with a temptation that incapacitates us. Some of us face tragedy that immobilizes us. A startling disappointment may stop us in our tracks. We all have an Achilles’ heel. I look around at people I know, and I wonder how they manage so well without God. What is their secret? Perhaps it’s a coping strategy. People look fine on the outside, but there are private burdens and vulnerabilities that may lurk below the surface.
When we face that which brings us to our knees, we become humble. No longer are we in charge. In the humility of this realization of our own powerlessness, the barriers go down and we turn to God. Humility before God is a cleansing state of vulnerability and openness. Humility makes us receptive to the help God has always been offering. We confess that we need God in order to change.
It can come as a tremendous relief to surrender the sense of self-sufficiency after experiencing greater and greater conflict in the attempt to keep life under our control. Confession of dependence releases us from the rigidity of false fronts and the supports of futile resolutions. A softness of emotion develops gradually when we shift from self-reliance to dependence on God. Honesty comes more easily after we’ve laid down the sword and shield of self-defense. This admission of dependence can be disconcerting. One of the paradoxes of religion is that, through dependence on God, we become whole.
When we depend on God for happiness, we trust that we will receive. With him, we find comfort and inner healing. His personal presence brings love, wisdom, power, and goodness. When we trust God’s abundance, we find that we don’t need to turn to food so often to get ourselves through the day. We can stop trying to manipulate our own happiness. His promises are real. Place your happiness in God’s hands, trusting rather than manipulating. Have faith in his nurturance and compassion. Trust God for the fundamental aspect of happiness—a sense of security and love.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
Psalm 36:7–9
