Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. – Isaiah 26:4 (ESV)
When you are single you must learn to be independent. You have to learn to take care of yourself simply because there is no-one else around to do it and as the years go by you increasingly become less reliant on others.
Becoming single and independent can be seen as a positive as you can do what you like when you like. However, relying on ourselves and our own strength can be seen as negative especially when you stop relying on God to supply all of your needs.
God requires us to be dependent on Him – to go to him with our needs and problems and relying on him to solve them. When you become independent you are naturally inclined to work out everything on your own. Working out everything on your own leads to worry and fear about your current and future situation. You tend to look at what you can do in this world and in your own strength.
Not depending on God and depending on your strength leads to your faith being zapped away. You no longer feel that you have a faith that can move mountains and instead you waste time and resources in getting over or pass the mountain in other ways. Before you know it, your whole life has been wasted by becoming completely independent.
“But I am single, and I need to be independent as there is no one to help me,” I hear you say. In a sense, this may be true but, in another sense, it isn’t. People may admire for your independence in certain things, but you will be more greatly admired for your dependence on God. Depending on God requires more courage and sacrifice than learning to live independently.
One of the most important things to learn as a single is that you have to depend on God as there is no-one else, not even yourself. In a way, it is one of the advantages of being single as you have a unique opportunity grow your faith, to learn more about God and how you relate to him.
When you depend on God you learn to focus on the things you need to live in this world. Knowing that God is taking care of you is a wonderful feeling and it is something that you can share with others. As a result, you end up being more interdependent on others rather than independent of others.
Originally published June 2016