DEPENDENT RESPONSIBILITY

One morning recently Hannah and I were both in the bathroom getting ready for the day, I think she was straightening her hair and I was putting in my contacts.  She started to tell me about something great she had heard in her ladies Bible study on The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Jerry Bridges.   She went on to say that in the book Jerry was able to succinctly and successfully describe the mysterious relationship we human beings have with the God of the universe, clearly a relationship not one of us has any business being part of by the way, but regardless, he said that man's relationship with God can best be described as DEPENDENT RESPONSIBILITY. I didn't fully grasp the magnitude of such a profound statement at 7 AM in the morning with only 1 contact in but the more I have thought about these two words, the more I realize it to be incredibly true.  

We are 100% dependent and at the mercy of God's will, but yet responsible for our choices, we are dependent upon his sovereignty yet responsible for our actions, and we are dependent on God's leading, and yet still responsible to take steps in faith towards that end.  As a good friend once reminded me, like every good quarterback, God hits moving targets.

While it is true that we should strive to make wise, smart, God-honoring choices, our efforts to do such should not get in the way of our ceaseless dependence on Him.  For example, our family is currently planning a cross-country move from Texas to North Carolina. The details of selling a house and finding a new one, all in the matter of two months have been enough to keep this old cowboy up at night from time to time.  I have frequently thought about the words dependent responsibility the last several weeks but it was my sweet wife who again reminded me tonight that there is a stark contrast between dependent responsibility and obsessive responsibility.  If one's not careful our desire to be, or at least feel, "in control" can masquerade as responsibility when really it nothing more than unhealthy obsession.  Obsession exhausts it's owner and will quickly rob a person of the peace, comfort and rest that God designed to flow from our dependence on him.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Lean on on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will direct your steps."   Proverbs 3:5-6