To be independent means to be free from outside control, not depending on another’s authority. God is independent, self-sufficient, not relying on anyone or anything. He is the Creator and the giver of life itself. Paul states, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25 ESV). If we look back to the very beginning of time and existence, we find the same message. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1), “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” (Gen.1:3). Everything God said Genesis 1 is the very world we live in, and there was no one telling Him what to create or how to create it. “God said,” and it came into existence. He did not need man to give Him direction or help Him make up His mind, for God does not depend on anything. Isaiah says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
As we understand that God is totally independent of anyone, we must realize that we are totally dependent on Him, even for the very breath we breathe. It amazes me that while we are created dependent on God, we want to be independent. But, as much as we strive for independence, we will never achieve it. From birth, we need our mothers to feed us so we can grow. We also depend on our parents or others to provide shelter and food for us. As we grow up, we claim we are independent when we move out and get our own place, yet we still depend on our employer to provide work for us so that we can pay our bills. No matter how hard we try to be independent, we will never reach that goal. We will always depend on someone or something for our necessities. So many people waste their lives striving for independence, not only in their everyday lives but also for their eternal life. We need to know that we are built to depend, but this is hard to accept because of our pride.
We might ask, why are we created dependent? The answer would be so that God would get the glory. Paul writes to the Romans, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36). Most of all, we are dependent on God for our salvation. We need Him to turn our heart of stone into a heart of flesh before we can live for Him. In Ezekiel, we read, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). God’s independence is amazing, for He does not need us to turn our own hearts to Him. He says, “I will” give you a new heart, and “I will” put my Spirit within you. God is the only one who can change our hearts, not us, so all the glory belongs to the Lord.
As we understand we can never achieve independence, for only God is independent, we must totally depend on God for our salvation, and our everyday life. Through Gods amazing creation, He gives us the oxygen we need to breathe, the food we need to eat, the material for building our homes and everything for life to be sustained. God did not depend on us when He sacrificed His Son on the cross, nor did He depend on us to create the world. Because of this, we should not be motivated to serve God because we think He needs us, but rather because we need Him.