Needs and Dependence
We all know that part of the process of growing up is a journey from dependence to independence. In fact, the people who are considered most mature in Western culture are those that can take care of themselves with a minimum amount of support or input from others. Yet Christ has called those that follow him to be continually submissive to God and to others.
It can make for quite a conundrum: we want to be able to take care of ourselves, but God calls us to submit our lives to Him and to others.
A recent post from the Lifetime Guarantee blog explores these tensions between dependence and submission. It begins by talking about all the great things we’d miss out on if we didn’t need anybody else (things like love, community and friendship), and continues by discussing how that helps us relate to God.
Here’s one of my favorite quotations for Meeting Our Needs:
Every need we have has a tempting counterfeit. Counterfeits can look and feel amazingly real, but they’re deceptive. They promise what they cannot deliver. They may provide temporary satisfaction, but they are usually self-focused and fall way short of the incredible plan God has for meeting our needs.
Do you trust God to meet your needs his way? In His strength, you have the power to turn away from the counterfeits and seek satisfaction in the real thing. We have to admit our needs and see Jesus as the only option for meeting them.
What are some of the counterfeits you settle for in life? Where do you seek satisfaction when you should be finding it in God or others?
Tell me, what happens when God is not presenting hm self and all we ever feel is emptyness. What about when u no God exsists and you trust him but he isnt in anything that you can see or tell. and the only thing u can even find any happiness or love is eather in the people you love that are around you and the material things of this world. What happens when you have been waiting so long for God to show himself and he dosnt even when u no he is there what then, dont you think people will start getting a little discuraged
Samuel, it’s rough when God seems distant. Especially when it seems like all you have going for you is the people and things surrounding you.
While it’s discouraging, I think periods of time like that are necessary (albeit painful), because in those times that you’re forced to decide if your faith is more than something you just do so as long as it’s easy.
If any of us haven’t been there yet, we will be.
I would add that I think oftentimes our spiritual needs are met by those that God surrounds us with. Much like Jesus turned to his apostles in the Garden before he was crucified, I think we’re to lean on our friends and family when we feel empty.
I know what Samuel is talking about; I have felt that way a lot. For me, it is always frustrating at first and leads to anxiety, restlessness, and depression. Some refer to this as time spent in the valley. I would much rather be on the mountaintop! I think God allows us to go through these times to make us grow… just like a plant that stretches for sunlight grows when it reaches for the light, so do we when we reach for His light. Not everything always makes sense to us, though. We have to trust Him. I think it blesses Him when we trust Him and praise Him in the down times because that is when it is the hardest to do so. And these times do not last forever; only for a season.
Hey Samuel
God is always there even when we don’t think he is. It’s us that push away, I know I’ve been there, and times when that happens God will put someone in my path that I could minister to and let them know how much he loves them. It so awsome becuase when we are done ministering the word, God will then, help me see what I was talking about and begin to show me that he will never leave me and he will always be there. God bless you my brother.