Confident Dependence

by Kathy Lay

This Week’s Verse: Hosea 13:6, “…always live in confident dependence on your God.” (NLT)

Devotion:
Remember that team-building exercise that was all the rage for awhile at everything from corporate workshops to summer camps? You know the one—members of small groups were asked to take turns falling backwards into the arms of the others in their group. The purpose was to address trust issues, thereby fostering more cohesiveness and unity within the group.

Though I was never asked to participate in that experience myself, any time I’d heard others talk about it I always wondered what the big deal was. I thought about the people I’ve worked with, played with, lived with, worshiped with, and generally “done life” with, and I don’t think I’d hesitate for a second to fall back, trusting them to catch me. (Hmm…maybe I’m TOO trusting?!)

But what I realized is that even though I might fully trust them to not let me hit the ground during a pre-planned, artificial scenario, I may have trouble trusting them not to let me down in real life. Can I really trust so-and-so to get such-and-such to me by that deadline? Will so- and-so convey the message in as detailed a manner as necessary? Are the kids going to remember to feed and water the dog as they promised? It’s those kinds of areas where I have trust issues. I guess I question others’ follow-through.

But you know who always follows through? I mean, always? I’ll drop a few hints—he’s crazy in love with you. He sings and dances over you. He desires to spend forever with you so much that he became flesh so he could die for you, but he’s such a gentleman that he leaves the decision up to you. If you choose him, he works miracles in your life whether or not you realize how perfect they are for you at that moment.

Now that’s someone we can trust. I loved the phrase from this week’s verse the moment I read it. Confident dependence on God…that’s what I want to always have. I want to wholly depend on him and be 100% confident that He’ll come through. I believe it in my head, but when it gets down to the daily ins and outs of life, do I live it out from my core? Do you?

Let’s depend on God with such confidence that we don’t hesitate for a millisecond to fall back into His big arms. He’ll never let us crash when we do.

Father, sometimes it’s just so tough to trust your timing or accept your will and yet you always follow through with mercy and grace when we ask you to. Help us to trust in full confidence that we can depend on you for everything that’s best for us, when it’s best for us. Help us to confidently depend on You. By all the authority in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Application:
Whether it’s falling backward, taking a leap of faith (off a cliff, sometimes!), or running hard, trusting God fully usually requires some action on our part. What steps have you taken recently to put your faith into action? What steps do you need to take to show God you’re confidently depending on Him in a certain situation?

Power Verses:
2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (NLT)
James 5:11, “…From his [Job’s] experience we see how the Lord’s plan finally ended in good, for he is full of tenderness and mercy.” (NLT)
Psalm 44:3, “They did not conquer the land with their swords; It was not their own strength that gave them victory. It was by your mighty power that they succeed; It was because you favored them and smiled on them.” (NLT)