So now, come back to your God.
Act with love and justice,
and always depend on him.
Hosea 12:6, NLT*
What does it mean to depend on God?
First, it’s an active reliance. We don’t sit and wait for Him to do what needs doing while we channel-surf.
We depend on His strength in us to equip us to serve. We depend on His Spirit in us to replace our natural reactions with the “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” that He wants us to display. (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT*)
When we’re mistreated, instead of taking revenge, we depend on “Him who judges justly” (1Peter 2:23, NIV) and we dare by His Spirit to forgive the offender and to pray that instead of staying hard and receiving what he or she deserves, that person will surrender to God and receive mercy.
We read the Bible and learn about God’s character, His ways, and His will. And about His promises. We choose to depend on who He is and what He says, not on what we feel and see.
We learn to recognize how He speaks to us as individuals, and we step out in faith to obey Him.
We overcome our fears by choosing to depend on God’s care and His power – and on the assurance that His presence will be with us no matter what.
God of Abraham, of Isaac, of me: because You don’t change, we can know and depend on You. Draw us who love You nearer to Your heart, and grow us in our faith. Draw those who don’t yet know You. Help them see their need of You, and how ignoring and defying You diminishes their lives. Because of Your great mercy, don’t give up on them.
∞
To depend on God, we need to remind ourselves of who He is. Brian Doerksen’s song, “Faithful One,” reminds us (sung here by Robin Mark).
*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.