Rely only on God, but be independent?

[Tegelik]

I am a little confused about this matter. On the one hand we should rely completely on God in everything, understand that we can only count on Him, not ourselves. On the other hand we have to be independent, self-confident, rely on our knowledge and skills in our everyday lives (work/school/other dutys). We need to think up solutions to our own problems, count on ourselves. How is that relying on God? How can I be self-confident and God-confident at the same time? How can rely on God and rely on myself, be independent, at the same time? Seems so contradictory. I hope I made my point clear.



Independence
–noun
freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.


Self-confidence
–noun
1.
realistic confidence in one's own judgment, ability, power, etc.

2.
excessive or inflated confidence in one's own judgment, ability, etc.

 

[MahogonySnail]

I'd like to know the answer to this one as well.

 

[socperkins]

I'm not sure I understand the question, by why do you think you need to be independent?

 

[Tegelik]

I'm not sure I understand the question, by why do you think you need to be independent?

It has always seemed to me that we should be independent adults. Shouldn't we?

 

[Definition_Christ]

Ecclesiastes 4
9 Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

 

[Jordan9]

"Pray as though everything depended on God, work as though everything depended on you." - St. Augustine.

One of my favourite quotations. I think of this every morning.

 

[greatkraw]

OK,

God created us.

He deliberately made us dependent.

We depend on others.

We depend on ourselves.

We depend on him.

Others let us down.

We let ourselves down.

If we think God has let us down then we are the one's with the problem.

We are put here ultimately for the sake of relationships.

We learn to relate to others and we learn to relate to God.

The cross symbolises our vertical relationship and our horizontal relationships.

If we try to depend soley on ourselves, and I know people who do, then we are saying we are our own selves god and have no need for the creator.

Those who promote the concept of independence or self esteem are actually promoting self deification. ie making ourselves god.

Anyone who thinks he is independant, and there are many who do, are sad and deluded.

 

[pickles]

I believe the scripture I like is. Man may choose his destination but God determines his steps.
To your question. It is doing all things, making all choices, believing in faith that God Our Father is there at your right side. Making all things good. All things glorify him. Instead of living in the world for your choices, it is living in Our Lord Jesus as what gives you all you need.
God bless, pickles

 

[socperkins]

I believe the scripture I like is. Man may choose his destination but God determines his steps.
To your question. It is doing all things, making all choices, believing in faith that God Our Father is there at your right side. Making all things good. All things glorify him. Instead of living in the world for your choices, it is living in Our Lord Jesus as what gives you all you need.
God bless, pickles

The verse in question is Proverbs 16:9 - "A man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." ESV

 

[loveschild]

Put God first in your mind. So everything your thinking up you ask God is this what you want or is this how it should be done. We can't go by what we think and what we feel. We must get in line with always knowing is this the will of God. Your will be done in me Lord, not my will. We have to train our minds to always have God on our minds. To be independent is us living by our flesh. Thats a no, no.

 

[1still_waters]

Psalm 127 1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

This is a very complicated issue. God tells us to get out and do work, yet he also says we must rely on Him.
This makes little sense to many.


Notice the verses up above don't say, "Don't labor and just let God build it."

There is clearly a place for us humans to work and labor and depend on what we can do. We're not simply supposed to sit back and 'rely on God' as our hands aren't hard at work.

So how do we resolve the apparent contradiction?

I think we go about doing our work with all our might, but in our hearts we realize that God has the power to prosper our work or to destroy it.

The main point is to realize who has the ultimate control here.

Yes God has ultimate control. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do our part. But just because we have to do our part, doesn't mean God isn't in control.

There is ONE thing though we can't do on our own. That one thing is to save ourselves from our sins.
In that matter you have to wholly rely on God.

So to sum it up. Do your part on things like building houses, raising families, studying at school, while at the same time recognizing God is in control. But in the matter of salvation, rely totally on Him.

 

[pickles]

The verse in question is Proverbs 16:9 - "A man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." ESV

Thankyou socperkins, God does cover even the lousy memory.
God bless, pickles