Depending on God: 7 Days to Recognizing Your Deep Need for HimSample

Only God Is Fully Independent

The opening line of the Bible impresses upon us the fact that God—and God alone—is not weak. In the beginning, God existed. He did not begin; he always was. No one created God. His existence—past, present, and future—owes itself to nothing. He depends on nothing. Nothing started him. Nothing sustains him. He has no need, weakness, or vulnerability. Nothing can end him. He simply is. That’s not true of anyone or anything else. Any semblance of power in a creature is a derived and dependent strength: It comes from God and depends on him to sustain it. Therefore, every created thing has an inescapable weakness: it cannot exist or continue existing apart from God’s will. Every creature is inherently vulnerable: It could cease to exist at any moment if God so willed, and it can do nothing to prevent it.

Those are staggering thoughts, impossible for us to fathom because we’re not God. We can’t begin to imagine what it is to be uncreated, unsustained, entirely independent, all-powerful, and eternal. But these are the first truths of the Bible, non-negotiable and foundational to everything that follows. Understanding the storyline of the Bible—and, therefore, the storyline of each of our lives—is impossible apart from grappling with the colossal distinction between Creator and creature. We are weak; he is strong.

We Are Weak

We are weak. That is good. God made us weak—and everything that God made was good. Before sin and death entered the world, weakness existed. It’s not a result of the Fall. The creation story drives this point home as it highlights the creation of human beings. We depend entirely upon God for our place, presence, purpose, provision, protection, and partners. In this study, we’ll explore these six truths in the context of the creation story as we recognize our weaknesses and the inherent need for God and his strength.