Dependence on God
Crowds can be very dangerous. I am not speaking of riots, or accidents of stampeding crowds, but of common ordinary crowds, moving lazily or briskly along the sidewalks, occupied with business, shopping, or pleasure. The very existence of a crowd has a tendency to dull the sense of our dependence upon God. It is somewhat like the little girl in an old story.
A father asked one of his three little girls who had just gone to bed if she had said her prayers. She said that she had not. He asked her if she were not afraid to go to sleep without having prayed. She answered, "Not tonight, for it is my turn to sleep in the middle."
When telling that story a generation ago, Dr. John Robertson of Scotland said, "Before God, I know that feeling. When I was in the multitude I did not have to lean upon God. A great kirk I had about me, great ecclesiastical authorities about me, and I was an ecclesiastically big man myself. I was moderator of the Metropolitan Presbytery of the city of Edinburgh, and I did not feel a great need to lean upon God. I felt that I could do somehow without the prayer, for I was in the middle. But now I need to cry to God, for I am no longer in the middle. I need to wait upon Him. I can't do without the Lord Jesus."
The Bible is filled with stories about God's methods for making men lonely that they may learn to lean upon Him. Abraham had to go alone into the hill country when Lot had chosen the plain. Then Abraham, with the relatives and crowds of the city far away, learned to lean upon God. Elijah had to flee the city to his place of meeting with God under the juniper tree. David was a fugitive before he learned to sing hymns in the darkness. Daniel knew the loneliness of a strange land and the companionship of lions. The list is long and can be extended beyond the pages of the Word in all of men's experiences with God throughout the history of the church.
Perhaps in this principle we have the philosophy of the old saying of William Cowper, "God made the country and man made the town." And certainly we have the spiritual reason why God so often cuts the props from beneath us in life. Our readiness for Heaven is Christ, but after we have received Him as Savior, the Father works at the task of making us lonely in order that we may find satisfaction in Christ alone.
1. Has there been a time when you thought you didn’t need to “lean” upon the Lord? What did the Lord Jesus teach you?
2. What are some biblical stories where a character learned about their utter need for God?
3. How does the Garden of Gethsemane teach us about prayer and utter reliance on God?
