Healing through Dependence
We love our independence. We believe Sinatra’s song, “My Way,” should apply to all of us. The American way tailors to this. We drive cars to get where we want when we want versus waiting for the scheduled train or bus. Anything you desire is available and delivered to your front door in two days or less. Whatever you want to watch is available with a few clicks. We’re happy to let our neighbor borrow our ladder, but if we need one, it’s a trip to the hardware store, even though we’ll use that thing once a year at best. I have a nice extension ladder if you ever need to borrow it!
This independence is a problem in relation to God. Especially with prayer. We treat God like Amazon, expecting whatever we’re asking for to be delivered in two days or less.
Prayer is not for us to maintain our independence. Instead, it reminds us that the healing we seek comes through our willingness to be dependent.
Look at this segment of the Lord’s Prayer:
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Jesus teaches us to confess need. We need God’s provision. We ask for forgiveness and the strength to forgive others. Finally, we are taught to confess that we need guidance and rescue. Jesus teaches us to pray so that we might find life in dependence, not independence.
To need is to be human. Jesus teaches us to remember that we need our daily bread provided to us. Bread in the scripture is more than just food. It’s a symbol of rescue for Israel as God provided manna (bread) for Israel after freeing them from Egypt. Jesus proclaims himself to be the bread of life. We affirm our dependence when we pray for God to provide our daily bread. We need food, rescue, and life that is truly life.
We resist forgiveness because to need forgiveness requires us to be honest about our failures. Yet Jesus teaches us to ask for forgiveness, reminding us that we fail and need grace. Jesus goes further and teaches us to forgive others for their failures too. In my experience, this is difficult, something I cannot do without God’s continued work in my heart. We are like toddlers who cry, “I do it myself!” Meanwhile, we need help just like they do.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. What kind of person needs guidance and rescue? Every kind. Our willingness to confess this reality does something incredible. It frees us to be human. Andy Crouch recently gave a talk in which he said God needs us to be instruments, not heroes. I love this! We like the idea of being heroes, but most of us aren’t; even those who are, still need help. God doesn’t ask this of us. Instead, God tells us to be instruments. The beautiful part of this analogy is that an instrument is only as good as the person, or being, using the instrument. You could give me a Stratovarius Violin and it would sound awful, but in the right hands, it will be breathtaking. Instruments are dependent. God does not ask us to be God. God asks us to be human. God tells us we will find life in choosing dependence, not independence. Prayer enables us to do just that.
Some questions to further consider:
Do you know what you need? What the world needs?
Can you receive and offer forgiveness?
Are you willing to find strength in weakness?
