Dependent

From the introduction to Andy Crouch's book Culture-Making: Recovering Our Creative calling:

The worst thing we could do is follow that familiar advice to “pray as if it all depended on God, and work as if it all depended on you.” Rather, we need to become people who work as if it all depends on God—because it does, and because that is the best possible news. We work for, indeed work in the life and power of, a gracious and infinitely resourceful Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. And we need to know ourselves well enough that the thought that it might in fact all depend on us would drive us straight to fasting and trembling prayer.

This is where my fundamental struggle lies: in thinking that it depends on me. In believing that my friend or my worth or the problems of the world depend on me, I drive myself to run away and try to blame other people for the problems I see, or try not to see the problems in the first place. They aren't my problems, I try to convince myself, turning my face away and refusing to help. But my conscience keeps trying to look back, and, though I'm not facing the problems anymore, I can't get rid of the guilt. I picked it up, somewhere along the line, and every time I notice the sufferings of the world, the guilt weighs just a little heavier...

But the truth is, these problems do not depend on me. The world depends on God, and He hasn't abandoned it, won't abandon it. Things may be a mess now, but He's still working, and because it all depends on Him, I can join in, I can face the problems, I can help, without picking up the burden of the entire responsibility.

I can look at how broken the world is, but still has hope, because I can also look at how strong God is. Sovereign, Creator, Everlasting: these are the words I want to understand.