Remembrance and Dependence

I'm reading in Isaiah 51.10 today where Isaiah calls God to remember his past deeds; specifically to the crossing of the Red Sea—this seems to be the key event to look back on and see God's deliverance for God's people. Isaiah is calling God to remember his great deliverance "a way for the ransomed to pass over" he puts it, and to act again in the same way on behalf of his people.

It's a huge lesson for us. Calling God to remember the great works that he has already done for his people is a way of expressing our dependence upon him and asking him to do the same work on behalf of his people again.

Strength in Dependence

This is exactly what Paul is getting at in 2 Tim 2.1: "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (KJV). "Be strong," says Paul, not in your own strength and effort, but "be strong in grace that is in Christ Jesus."

We cannot give ourself grace any more than we can give ourselves talents and abilities. Grace comes from the Lord Jesus. We are dependent upon him to provide it. If we do not have grace we cannot be strong in it. So our strength then, comes in dependence. This is just the way the Lord wants it. We depend upon him. He gives us strength. We get help. He gets glory.

Calling for God to Act

In Daniel 9.19, this morning where Daniel closes his marvelous prayer of confession and supplication for God's people. It is a good example of how we can pray (but often do not). O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God! It is good and right to confess our sins. It is good and right to call for the Lord to act. It is good and right to call for the Lord to act without delay. All of this expresses dependence, and it is fundamentally dependence for which God instituted the practice of prayer. It's not that God doesn't know our thoughts or situation; it's that we express and acknowledge our dependence upon him when we pray, as David does so well here.

Dependence

In Psalms 104.29-31, this morning. The psalmist here is working out the dependence of all creation upon their creator. This is a radically different view of creation than modern science has. The naturalist says I don't know how the world got here, but it is now running by itself. The psalmist says, everything is dependent upon the creator. Food to sustain life is given by the creator (vs. 28). If the Creator takes away it away—when you hide your face—then they die and return to dust. However, when God sends for His Spirit, then you renew the face of the ground. Birth, death, life, sustenance, rain, the sea, the creatures in the sea, it is all dependent upon the Lord.

Dependence

Meditating on Isaiah 33.2 this morning. (By the way, the Hebrew word for "meditate" means "to growl, or mutter," implying that we ought to ponder and chew on God's word aloud in some sense). It's a verse that screams out "dependence," which is exactly what we do not want to be. This is probably the most difficult part about growing in the faith. We want to continually be our own god, at the root of things. The people of Judah are in deep trouble and independence is not an option when the Assyrian army is literally knocking on the gates of Jerusalem. Thus God severs us from our inclination to depend upon ourselves.