True Dependence

On September 25, 2003 I had hit rock bottom in my life and found myself laying on the floor crying out to God. I said, “I can’t do this anymore. I need your help!” There was no amount of trying harder that could fix the mess I was in. I didn’t have the strength to keep fighting or to try to get up again. Everything I had tried wasn’t working and the bottom seemed to fall out from underneath me every time I tried to get back up. As I laid there on the floor, I heard the Lord whisper back, “Finally.” Finally I had come to the end of myself and realized I needed Him not just to help me, but to carry me. I learned what true dependency meant.

In Luke 15 we read the story of a young man who wanted to do things on his own. He asked for his inheritance and left home. He went far away to spend his money and live his life how he saw fit. When the money ran out, his “friends” left. Then a famine hit as well as a recession. He couldn’t find a place to stay or a job. He couldn’t only find menial work that was the lowest of the low. Verse 17 when he finally came to his senses, he decided to return to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father closed the gap by running to him. His father put the best robe on him, the family ring, shoes for his feet and killed the best calf. His desire had been to simply return as a servant, but the father restored his sonship.

Psalm 61:2 says, “From the end of the earth I call to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and weak; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I [a rock that is too high to reach without Your help]” (AMP). The psalmist too was sitting at rock bottom and recognized he needed God’s help to lead him to solid ground. He needed God’s help to close the gap between where he was and where he could not get to on his own. If you’ve been trying on your own and can’t seem to break free, be like the psalmist and the prodigal son who called out to their Father. He’s not going to shame you. He’s going to restore you. He will lift you up out of the pit and onto a place of solid ground. It’s a place you can only find when you’re truly dependent on Him.

Photo by John Koliogiannis on Unsplash