God's Role in Our Lives

Dependence and submission have become dirty words in our culture. None of us likes to admit that we need help from someone else on occasion, particularly in personal issues. It's funny how we generally have little problem asking for help moving furniture or other physical or job-related tasks, but the moment it gets personal, we insist on solving it ourselves. Yes, I know it's because we don't like being vulnerable, but why do we feel that way? Why is it that failure to move a couch by one's self is not considered a failure of that person, but failure to sort through one's emotional and spiritual issues is, by either that person or anyone else? Is it weakness? Yes, in a way, because we're not strong enough to make it through life on our own.

There's another reason these words have taken a negative connotation: that you owe someone you depend on. When someone helps you, you feel (or should feel) like helping them in return if you can. To use the example of moving again, if you work your tail off for someone all day, you rather expect at least a pizza at the end, maybe that and another meal if you moved a house's worth of furniture. You'd feel a little offended if the person you helped either didn't meet your expectations or did so grudgingly. Why is it then that we should not feel gratitude toward those who help us?

More to the point is the fact that moving furniture is about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 in importance. Issues of the heart and soul are far more important, yet it is these that we try to work out ourselves. We may ask for advice from a few trusted people, but even then, we often feel uncomfortable doing it, like we shouldn't need to or that they are looking down on us for needing help.

I currently have a friend who is going through something, but won't say what it is. She claims that answers must come from God in this. While I agree that God's wisdom is best, God often works through people. Yes, He can just zap the answer into her head, but more often than not, He uses others to encourage, correct, admonish, and teach us.

For men in particular, when we ask for help, we feel like we've accomplished less when the task is completed. This is a huge pride issue for us. God doesn't want us to be proud; He wants us to prosper. He wants us to depend on Him constantly. Here's a little secret: you already do depend on Him constantly. The fact that you are taking that next breath shows that you depend on God for allowing you to do so. If it were not His will that you do, you couldn't.

For me, personally, I can say that all three reasons contribute to me not wanting to trust God as much as I should and lean on Him. I would feel that I was unimportant if I depended on Him. Guess what? I am! I would feel that I owed Him if I depended on Him for everything. Guess what? I do, even if He does nothing for me! I would feel that I am vulnerable and weak if I needed His help. Guess what? I can't even breathe without His allowing me to do so.

So, if you already need God in a deeper, more intimate way than you can fathom, why delude yourself into thinking you can do this whole life thing on your own?