Adults celebrate
when children learn to do something on their own: get dressed, brush their
teeth, tie shoelaces, ride a bike, walk to school.
As
adults, we like to pay our own way, live in our own houses, make our own
decisions, rely on no outside help. Faced with an unexpected challenge, we seek
out “self-help” books. All the while we are systematically sealing off the
heart attitude most desirable to God and most descriptive of our true state in
the universe. It’s what Jesus told His disciples: “Without Me you can do
nothing” (John 15:5).
The truth
is that we live in a web of dependence, at the center of which is God, in whom
all things hold together. Norwegian theologian Ole Hallesby settled on the
single word helplessness as the best summary of the heart attitude that
God accepts as prayer. He said, “Only he who is helpless can truly pray.”
Most parents feel a pang when the child outgrows dependence, even while knowing the growth to be healthy and normal. With God, the rules change. We never outgrow dependence, and to the extent we think we do, we delude ourselves. Prayer is our declaration of dependence upon the Lord.
