Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living and has not let our feet slip. For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs; you let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatted calves, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has heard the words of my prayer.
Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me. ~ Psalm 66:8-20
The Psalmist clearly knows he needs God.
He is able to articulate ways in which God has been there. Things God has done. Expectations God has had. Disappointments felt all around.
In the midst of this is vulnerability. Needing God.
Needing isn't always something we are great at. It isn't language we tend to be comfortable with. whether we are talking about God or each other.
Something I read recently put it this way: why would God need people who don't need God? Why would God need self-sufficient, pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps kind of people?
We were created as vulnerable beings. We start out that way as infants, but somewhere along the line, we seemed to forget that we remain vulnerable.
We were created to need God. We were created to need each other. And when we forget that, we stray from the walk of faith.
We aren't meant to live by our own devices. We are meant to live with and for each other.
With and for God.
Dear God, it is tempting to want to go it on my own. To think I need to be right and strong all the time. Remind me of my need for you and for your people. Amen