Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
Psalm 105:4
Would you describe yourself as a self-reliant person? I would. I don’t like to feel that I’m dependent on other people. This is of course A Bad Thing. I know it, but knowing something intellectually and doing something emotionally are often poles apart. If I’m struggling to meet a deadline, I won’t ask for help. If I’m feeling overwhelmed I won’t ask for support. Usually this has catastrophic consequences. Knowing me, if I was drowning and you threw me a life ring, I’d probably stubbornly refuse to grab it, preferring to get to safety on my own.
This kind of behaviour is idiotic. There’s no other way to describe it. And yet many of us live our lives in this way. That’s probably why today’s verse is so challenging to so many people. The Psalmist tells us to look to God and his strength, rather than depending on ourselves. If we find it difficult to be dependent on other people, though, it can be even harder to make ourselves dependent on God. Should it be like this?
If God can create the universe, surely he can support us in our day-to-day lives? If he loves us enough to send us his son to die for us, surely, he loves us enough to watch over us? If he sent his Holy Spirit to equip the disciples to speak foreign languages and encourage them whilst they risked their lives to spread the Gospel, surely he can inspire and guide us? If God is all-knowing, surely he is better placed than us to know what is best for us and for his kingdom? If God is always present and knows the past, present and future, then he knows what lies in store for us and can help us plan and prepare to face whatever is ahead of us?
Many Christians know all this, but still struggle to place their dependence on God. If we make our main priority in life to seek his face, though, to discover more about God, to understand him better, and to uncover the future plans that he has both for us and his kingdom, then it will become much easier to trust God and his strength rather than rely solely on ourselves.
Let’s pray together today that God will help us to make this verse a reality in our lives. Let’s ask him to help us not to trust in ourselves and our limited understanding of the world, but rather to seek him in everything that we do. Perhaps if we did that our lives would seem considerably less stressful!