Dependence

Dependence.

(For context, please first read the earlier posts, "Ultimately, It Is Not Up To Me," and "Penultimately, It Is A Matter of Prayer.")

This is really part three of the same dialogue...

If part one of the earlier discussion was that God cares for the ultimate and part two was that we care for the penultimate, the necessary next conversation must be our dependence, in the things before the last, on the God who holds the ultimate within His hands.

In 1953 a youthful Queen Elizabeth II was crowned the sovereign of England. At the time of her coronation, she was but twenty five years of age. She was a youth, a mere child given the enormity of her responsibility. Speaking of the important event, C.S. Lewis wrote, "The pressing of that huge, heavy crown on that small, young head becomes a sort of symbol of the situation of *humanity* itself: humanity called by God to be His vice-gerent and high priest on earth, yet feeling so inadequate. As if He said, 'In all my inexorable love I shall lay upon the dust that you are glories and dangers and responsibilities beyond your understanding.' Do you see what I mean? One has missed the whole point unless one feels that we have all been crowned and that coronation is somehow, if splendid, a tragic splendour..." (Letters to an American Lady, July 10, 1953)

He continues his theme in a November 6, 1953 letter to the same correspondent, "But then when the need comes, *He* carries out in us His otherwise impossible instructions. In fact, He always has to do all the things -- all the prayers, all the virtues. No new doctrine, but newly come home to me."

Indeed. We have neither the skills nor the natural self-generated resources to undertake the job appointed to us, let alone the ability to complete the task. Parenting, friendship, fidelity, love, faithfulness, courage, patience, and peace -- they are all consistently outside our grasp unless we grasp the truth that they are given to us and not generated within us. Contrary to popular opinion and modern psychology, we do not look "within" ourselves to find the strength and resources to steward what has been given to us. Rather, we look "outside" ourselves to Jesus Christ, the glory of God the Father, to complete what is lacking and to provide what we are incapable of manufacturing.

The truth of the matter is this: it is not about us.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

And the corollary:

"But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

It is pretty clear, we cannot, in and of ouselves, accomplish anything of worth or significance. We are truly unable to meet the challenge that has been issued. Unless we meet it in Christ. And then it is He who meets the challenge through us. It is not of our own works and there is nothing of which we should boast. Rather, the ability to steward the responsibilities provided to us is found alone in Jesus Christ. See Ephesians 2:9.

The reality of the situation, on any given day, is for us much like it was for Joshua. The opportunity and challenge, the responsibility and cause was to take the city of Jericho. By all appearances and strategies, Joshua and the Israelites were ill-equipped to the task. Jericho was entreched, fortified, mighty and stalwart. Joshua and his nation were refugees from Egypt, nomads and tent dwelling wanderers. Nonetheless, there was a divine command, a kairos moment, and an opportunity for the glory of the Lord to shine (much like in the later story of Gideon). Scripture recounts that it was the Lord, not Joshua or his army, that was to prevail.

"And the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.'" Joshua 6:2. After obediently following the specific commands of Yahweh, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city." Joshua 16:16. And it was so. Joshua 6:20 recounts, "So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city."

He was dependent. The victory was not his. The strategy was not his. The resources were not his. All belonged to the Lord of hosts. Joshua recognized this and in his dependence he prevailed.

May we also prevail in His stength. Ours alone is insufficient at best. It is only though Jesus Christ, and in Him alone, that we are made strong.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

Amen.

Location:Burnett Ln,Vincennes,United States