Depend, Go to Him for Help and Remember!
"Depend on the Lord and his strength;
always go to him for help.
Remember the miracles he has done,
his wonders, and his decisions.
(1 Chronicles 16: 11,12)
David's 'Song of Thanks' in 1 Chronicles 16: 08 - 36 reminds us of having a thankful heart that worships the Lord for what He is and what He has done in our lives. This song of thanks also lays an important on our dependency on the Lord. I find three important lessons to learn on 'dependency' from this song that David sang out of his thankfulness to the Lord. David reminds us to depend on the Lord's strength, go to Him for help and to remember the great things the Lord has done. Depend, Go and Remember!
Depending on the Lord and His strength means more than just knowing in our hearts that God is able. The act of depending includes an effort from our side than just remembering that nothing is impossible to God. The expression of our dependency on the Lord must bein in our actions when we do the following.
Depend on the Lord and His strength
The first and most important part of our expression of our dependency on the Lord is our action of depending itself. This is to say to your heart that you are going to look to God alone, come what may. In the midst of many options that may be around us, we make the conscious decision that we are going to look to our Lord for His blessings. Thus, when we say "we depend on the Lord" we mean to say that we have chosen Him to be our hope. We have made the Lord our priority. It is the admittance in our selves that we are very well aware of the Lord's strength. It is the expression of the hope and faith we have in Him. It is the practical way of making ourselves assured that what we believe is true and there is surely the Lord's help for each person who calls on His name.
Always Go to Him for Help
The second important part of our dependency on the Lord and the expression of it is the conscious decision that we make to always run to our Lord when we are in need. Always, whenever there is a need in our lives, we must go to the Lord for help. Initially, when I was contemplating on this verse, the word "always" was sounding different and addition for me. I felt why always? Why should we always go? Is the word always necessary in this place? But later, as I continued to think on this it became very clear to me that the true meaning of dependency was just packed within this one word - 'always'. It dawned in me later that depending on the Lord is not about going to Him for help when human efforts fail. It is not about going to Him when we do not have any other option. But depending on the Lord is about 'always'. It is about, whatever may be there or may not, whoever may be present or absent, wherever paths may seem possible or impossible, always we must learn to go to the Lord for help. And that is another true expression of our dependency on our Lord.
Remember what He has done
David's song of thanks also reminds us of the third important element of dependency, which is to "Remember the miracles he has done, his wonders, and his decisions." The third and usually forgotten part is the one that keeps us attached. Seldom that we remember to think of the miracles, the wonders and the decisions the Lord had done in our lives and this makes us forget His marvellous strength. Since we forget to think of the things He had already done in our lives, next time when we are in need, we tend to forget the mighty strength of the Lord and we run towards whatever may seem possible in this world. And, at the end of a failed attempt of things, we then get reminded of what the Lord can do in the midst of such a need. Most of the times, it is the failures of our human attempts that reminds us of what the Lord is able to. Let us not go to that extent! Let us make it a lifestyle that we learn to remind ourselves every day as we worship the Lord with thanks. Let our thanksgiving keep reminding us of the wonderful things God has done in our lives. And let this remembrance keep reminding us to depend on the Lord and His strength at all times and to go to Him for help, keeping Him as our priority!
I pray that the blessings of our Lord our Father, the grace of Christ Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit guide and help all of us to depend on the Lord and his strength at all times; to always go to him for help and to remember the miracles he has done, his wonders, and his decisions. May all of our hearts look to God day and night, and be thankful to Him for what He has done. May the thanksgiving in our hearts keep reminding to depend on the Lord always!
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
