I have an idea for a new national holiday: an observance of a principle so key to human joy and satisfaction that I'm amazed no one has yet suggested it.
This holiday would be called "Dependence Day," and it would be celebrated 365 days a year, year after year, until time ceases to be measured.
Probably the reason no one has suggested Dependence Day before now is that we're dedicated celebrators of personal independence, not dependence. But that is by choice, not by design. We were never made for prideful autonomy. We were created to rely completely on the One who loves us like no other! Our Lord and Savior.
In Hosea 13, God says to Israel: "You were not to know any god except Me, for their is no Savior besides Me." God illustrates His pursuit of His wayward people through the life of husband/prophet Hosea, who pursued, married, was deserted by and then rescued and re-wed a faithless prostitute named Gomer.
Hosea pursued his Gomer-gone-bad for the same purpose God pursued Israel: He meant to do her good.
God means to do us good, too. If we believed this, we'd be lining up to surrender to His pursuit, but instead we run away from Him, because we value our independence more than we relish His care.
We long for freedom from authority more than we long for protection from harm.
We're more comfortable with self-sufficiency than we are with surrender.
And the end to our arrogance is not a good one: "It is your destruction, O Israel, that you are against Me, against your help" (Hosea 13:9)
So how do we go about declaring Dependence Day? Hosea instructs us there, too: "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the LORD..." (Hosea 14: 1-2)
What kind of words should we take to God? Words like "I've stumbled" and "I'm sorry."
Words like "You're my only hope."
Words that confess all other comforts have either failed us or will, and we have failed ourselves.
Words of thanks for His freshness and beauty and strength and provision...words that might sound something like this:
"God, I do depend on you for everything--even my next breath. I cannot do one thing without you. You provided a way for me to know you by sending your precious Son Jesus to die. You give grace for living the Christ-life too and keep right on forgiving and cleansing me. You are my hope my strength, my security, my song, my hiding place, my rock, my fortress, my defender, my friend, and the truest lover of my soul. Today I declare Dependence Day. I renounce my prideful, pretend-independence, and confess my overwhelming need for you. Help me to cease striving and know that you are indeed God--and I most certainly am not. In Jesus' holy name...Amen."
Happy Dependence Day, friend. May you celebrate long, and well. Notice the beauty around you today and everyday.
For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and lavished on her silver and gold. (Hosea 2:8)
This holiday would be called "Dependence Day," and it would be celebrated 365 days a year, year after year, until time ceases to be measured.
Probably the reason no one has suggested Dependence Day before now is that we're dedicated celebrators of personal independence, not dependence. But that is by choice, not by design. We were never made for prideful autonomy. We were created to rely completely on the One who loves us like no other! Our Lord and Savior.
In Hosea 13, God says to Israel: "You were not to know any god except Me, for their is no Savior besides Me." God illustrates His pursuit of His wayward people through the life of husband/prophet Hosea, who pursued, married, was deserted by and then rescued and re-wed a faithless prostitute named Gomer.
Hosea pursued his Gomer-gone-bad for the same purpose God pursued Israel: He meant to do her good.
God means to do us good, too. If we believed this, we'd be lining up to surrender to His pursuit, but instead we run away from Him, because we value our independence more than we relish His care.
We long for freedom from authority more than we long for protection from harm.
We're more comfortable with self-sufficiency than we are with surrender.
And the end to our arrogance is not a good one: "It is your destruction, O Israel, that you are against Me, against your help" (Hosea 13:9)
So how do we go about declaring Dependence Day? Hosea instructs us there, too: "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the LORD..." (Hosea 14: 1-2)
What kind of words should we take to God? Words like "I've stumbled" and "I'm sorry."
Words like "You're my only hope."
Words that confess all other comforts have either failed us or will, and we have failed ourselves.
Words of thanks for His freshness and beauty and strength and provision...words that might sound something like this:
"God, I do depend on you for everything--even my next breath. I cannot do one thing without you. You provided a way for me to know you by sending your precious Son Jesus to die. You give grace for living the Christ-life too and keep right on forgiving and cleansing me. You are my hope my strength, my security, my song, my hiding place, my rock, my fortress, my defender, my friend, and the truest lover of my soul. Today I declare Dependence Day. I renounce my prideful, pretend-independence, and confess my overwhelming need for you. Help me to cease striving and know that you are indeed God--and I most certainly am not. In Jesus' holy name...Amen."
Happy Dependence Day, friend. May you celebrate long, and well. Notice the beauty around you today and everyday.
For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and lavished on her silver and gold. (Hosea 2:8)
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