S214P3 – The cry in faith: true dependence
Psa. 22:9-10
Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
His favorite phrase was “I got this.” In the workplace, he was the last person to ask for help. There were times when his difficulties were obvious to coworkers or team members, and that would prompt them to ask what they could do for him. He always responded the same way and had faith in his self-sufficiency to figure out the problem on his own. Every now and then, this was simply impossible, but it would take someone else to initiate that helping hand and fix that problem. It is no wonder that his prayers were few and far between. Although he knew that God is omnipotent and omniscient, he simply preferred handling matters on his own. What he did not realize was that this approach to life’s problems was really about an unhealthy independent spirit.
No matter who we are and how able we are, each of us needs God. This is a fundamental truth we expect the youngest and most unseasoned in the faith to understand. Yet, some of us who should be on the mature side of the spiritual spectrum still have a problem with this dependence. Maybe we think we are simply too old or too experienced not to have the answers. There is nothing wrong with being confident and able, but there is a problem if we cannot confess our utter dependence on God for everything we need. It is not as if we need him only in certain trying times or only when our issues are clearly beyond our abilities. We need God for the simple things like the air we breathe. This is a confession David made many times because he understood that, even as a grown man, he was as dependent as a babe.
The picture David paints is of a child dependent on his mother for survival. Yet, it was not the mother on whom the child was dependent. He was really relying on God’s provision of a mother who could care for him. Even in relying on the hand of another, David recognized that he still was relying on the hand of God. This is the proper posture of prayer. We go to God with an understanding that we do nothing on our own. It is in him, by him, and through him that we even wake up to face the day. The cry of the faithful is the cry of the happily needy. Father, give us a fresh revelation of how much we need You so that we approach prayer as children dependent on our Father for even the air we breathe.