We understand that faith in God is marked by dependence upon Him and confidence in Him. Therefore, we can say that a dependent life is the only kind of life that is pleasing God, because God said “And without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb 11:6).
I believe one of the marks of someone who is dependent is by how much they ask for help.
When I think of some of the most godly people in the Bible, I see people who were utterly dependent on God, and cried out to Him for help often. I see Job who cried out to God who was his only refuge, David who wrote down many Psalms about crying out to God for his deliverance from enemies. Paul who asked God for deliverance from a thorn in his flesh until he got an answer (2 Corinthians 12:8). Daniel who cried out for help when men were trying to kill him for his faith (Dan 6:11). Asaph (Psalm 73) who was tormented by his own envy of the wicked people around him, had to find refuge in God’s house and ask for help for deliverance from his inward struggle. These are just some examples.
The most godly people in the Bible were dependent people, who did not think they could accomplish anything apart from God, but instead cried to God for help. Not one was such a ‘go-getter’ who imagined they could control things and gain victory for themselves apart from God’s help.
Of course, the most wonderful example of dependence on God is our Lord Himself who said, “I can do nothing on my own.” (John 5:30 NLT)
With an attitude like this, we can be sure that He cried out to God for help all the time. And this is exactly what the Bible says. Much of Psalm 69 is a prophecy about Jesus (“my zeal for your house has consumed me” – verse 9, “for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” – verse 21). I believe verse 3 also talks about Jesus when it says “I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched” (Psalm 69:3 NLT). Jesus cried out to God for help all the time, so much so that His throat dried out! He was one who followed Philippians 4:6 perfectly: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
He was never anxious for anything because He always asked God for help.
What did He ask God for help with? Primarily it was to keep Him from sin.
Hebrews 5:7 – “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.”
Jesus hated sin so much and knew that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), which is separation of fellowship with God, and so He cried to His Father all the time to keep Him from that.
We don’t need to always figure out the details of what we need to pray or how to pray. Sometimes we don’t even know what our current problem is and what to ask for, we may just feel a disconnect with God in our spirit. But the answer is wonderfully simple, just cry out to our loving Father with a simple prayer asking “help”, and the Holy Spirit will help us with the rest (Romans 8:26). He’s a loving Father who’s eager to lift us back up close to Him, to keep us from sin and separation from Him, and to comfort us in our time of need. We just need to go to Him and ask for help, not worrying about how many words, how few words, or how elegant of words we are coming to Him with.