Dependence Upon God is a Blessing

Jer 17: 5 Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.

In America, the idea of a self-made man is a good one. We are taught to be "rugged individualists," to "be true to ourselves" and generally to cut our own path in the world. And it seems as though the higher up the ladder one goes, the more successful he is, the more he relies upon his own abilities and strengths and the more he is celebrated for his abilities and resources.

When I first became a Christian, I had a friend who checked in on me to see how I was doing. He wanted to make sure that I was now not using religion "as a crutch." Many see Christians in this light. They must have some deficit in their life and need to fill it with God. They can't make it on their own.

The truth is we all need the crutch of God. No man can stand alone when it comes to Him. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

This is exactly the opposite of what the world teaches and what the flesh desires. The idea that we are wholly dependent on someone outside of us for everything is anathema to the flesh.

But that is the reality we are in, in this world. Every single thing in our life has been provided by God. And every single thing in our life is intended for His glory.  But that won't happen apart from faith in Christ.

Those in the world trust in the world to get by. They look to their own abilities and their own resources to accomplish and sustain their existence. The Lord tells us that this is a curse. "...Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD." (Jeremiah 17:5)

It is not a blessing, but a curse to be so self-sufficient (in your own mind) that God is not needed. This is so because the one who does this does not realize that everything they are and have is from God. And as we have seen countless times in history (and probably our own experiences), what we have can be taken from us in an instant.

When we think we're independent of God, it actually turns our hearts from God. This can only be a curse, for surely the closer we are to Him the better. But this is what the Lord says. "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD."

Conversely, the more dependent we see ourselves upon God, the more we look to Him for all that we need, the more blessed we are in this world. The more we realize our dependence upon Him, the more we will look to Him, the more we will glorify Him with all that we have.

Therefore, let us begin with the truth that God alone supplies what we need, not only in this life, but in the one to come. If we have something, it is from Him, whether it is some internal skill or some resource, they are all from His gracious hand. And since they are from His hand, they are meant to bring Him glory.

Amen.