By Dennis Pollock
If you hang around Christians much, and I hope you do, you frequently hear them say things like: “Without God I don’t know where I would be,” or “without the Lord I cannot do a thing,” or “I will surely fail if God doesn’t help me.” These kinds of statements speak of the concept of dependence. We who are in Christ deeply feel our need for the Lord to continually uphold and bless us, for us to live and succeed in life. And this is a correct perspective.
To “depend” means to rely on someone outside yourself. If you are independent, you rely on no one apart from yourself. You can get the job done; you are more than adequate for the task at hand. You are entirely competent and more than capable of navigating your way through life. Christians do not feel this way, nor do we speak or think this way. We are keenly aware of our total dependence upon God in every aspect of our lives.
The Bible makes this concept of our dependence crystal clear. Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). He does not say, “Without Me you cannot do very much, or without me you cannot be as much as you could be with Me.” Jesus tells us: “Without Me you can do nothing.” Clearly, this statement is shouting out: “DEPENDENCE.” If we need Jesus for even the smallest of accomplishments, we must therefore be entirely dependent on Him.
Another verse in the Bible that speaks of our dependence on the Lord is found in the writings of Paul, when he asks believers: “And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). The Holy Spirit is revealing to us that all that we value, all that we prize in our lives is a gift from God. James echoes this truth, saying, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…” (James 1:17). Our families, our friends, our homes, our jobs, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and every other good thing we have is a gracious gift from our kind and benevolent Heavenly Father. And if all is a gift, we who are on the receiving end of these gifts must be, in a very real way, dependent upon our Heavenly Benefactor.
Who Can Argue with This?
Well, so far, so good. This is totally non-controversial and indisputable. Every genuine Christian understands this and embraces it freely. We recognize that we have been given a few specific talents and gifts by our Creator, but we do not put any reliance on them. Our trust is in God. He will use our talents and magnify our gifts, but in the end, He must receive the glory. Any success we may achieve in this life comes from Him.
But what about those who are unbelievers, sinners, people of false religions, or no religion at all? Sometimes, when we look at their lives, we conclude that they feel they do not need God. Sometimes, without ever reading the Bible, praying, attending church, or even thinking about God, these endeavors are successful, even wildly successful. The Bible speaks of people like this. In the Psalms, it says:
The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
God is in none of his thoughts.
His ways are always prospering;
Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
I shall never be in adversity.” (Psalm 10:4-6)
The Great Illusion
There is an illusion about worldly success. And the illusion is this: You do not have to be a praying, hymn-singing, Bible-reading, church-attending, on-fire Christian to be successful in much of life. Ungodly men and women succeed in business, athletics, singing, writing, acting, investing, and other areas all the time. They are smart, hard-working, and often rise above many Christians in their field. They are not aware of how much they need God. It appears to them that they have achieved an amazing career, are successful in business, or possess a huge bank account, without God being even remotely involved in their lives. As the psalmist says: “God is in none of his thoughts.”
The prophet Daniel was called by King Belshazzar to interpret the writings of a mysterious detached hand that wrote a cryptic message on the wall, while the king and his guests were having a wild party. They had been praising their idol gods and mocking the God of Israel by using the Jewish temple cups for drinking their wine. When Daniel surveyed the scene, he was disgusted and told the king: “You have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified” (Daniel 5:23).
Notice how Daniel describes God as the One who holds our breath in His hand. Our every breath is a gift of God. And breath is man’s most fundamental need. We can live for weeks without food. We can live for days without water. But if our breath is taken from us, we die in ten minutes. And throughout our lives, every single breath we take is granted to us by our Creator. Additionally, Daniel says that God “owns all our ways.” He dictates and controls every single circumstance of our lives. Nothing we do or experience in life is outside God’s providence and permission.
We’re All Dependent
As it turns out, the God-fearing, praying Christian is in the same boat as the God-mocking, prayerless sinner. We all have complete dependence on God. He holds our lives together and gives us every breath we take. None of us could even do something as simple as walk across a room without God upholding us. If He ever withdrew His sustaining grace from our lives, we would die immediately.
But the difference between the Christian and the unbeliever is that we know this and are very much aware of it. The sinner goes through life blissfully ignorant of his dependence on God and foolishly assumes that his possessions and any successes he may have in life are his own doing. It is not that the sinner doesn’t need God. He (or she) needs Him desperately, but he doesn’t know it.
The knowledge of our dependence on God and the awareness that every good gift in life is from God creates in us a fear of God, and a respect for Him, and His ways, His commandments, and His word. And when we learn from the Scriptures: “He who has the Son (JESUS) has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life,” (1 John 5:12), we come trembling to Jesus Christ and receive Him as our Lord and our Savior. And having trusted in Jesus, we know that we will be taken care of and upheld by God’s grace and power forever!
