Living In Dependencefeatured

As I began to paint a few months ago, God decided that it was time to teach me a few lessons.  Not art lessons – life lessons!

First and foremost, He is teaching me to live “in dependence” on Him.  Please note the short space between “in” and “dependence.”  Take that away and you have – independence.  Now as an American, I love independence!  I was raised with the great American value of self-sufficiency.  I hate to tell you, but that just ain’t Biblical!

He is teaching me that I cannot paint a decent painting or write a worthwhile devotional unless I am totally dependent on Him.  I’ve learned that in that small space between “in” and “dependence” are two really important things – seeking and waiting.

Let’s tackle seeking first.  Seeking is earnestly pursuing God.  Legitimate seeking involves spending time in His Word and in prayer.  Being a task-oriented person who likes to get things done, I have been known to do more of the “take a peek at God” approach:  read the 2-minute devotional, recite my list of requests to him with one eye on the clock, and then out the door!

God is supposed to be my first love.  Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness. . .”  I’m just here to tell you that my 2-minute approach doesn’t really reflect “first love.”  It’s more like a weak “like.”

Okay, seeking is hard enough, but the second – waiting – oh dear!  I am not a fan of waiting.  When I am painting, and I am stuck (happens a lot!) sometimes I know that God wants me to stop painting and wait for further instructions.  When I give Him a couple of seconds to respond and then just plow ahead, I invariably end up with a hot mess.  The Bible Gateway site says the Bible includes the word “wait” 129 times.  That’s an indication that waiting may be something that’s kind of important to God!  Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  I am slowly learning, that when God says, “stop” I need to set that painting aside and move on to something else and wait on Him.

This painting, “Holy Wind”, is an example of this.  I can’t even describe how ugly it was when I was relying on myself to get it done.  When I finally stopped, sought His help and waited for Him, He gently guided me out of my mess.

But wait!  Could seeking and waiting also apply to other areas of my life?  1 Chronicles 16:11 says, “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”  The word “always” just might give us the answer!

Seeking and waiting – keys to living in dependence.  Easy to say, impossible to do without the power of the Holy Spirit – but that’s another devotional I think!

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