Our INDEPENDENT God … (September 2021 Update)
Independence! 30 Years ago, Ukraine declared its independence from the USSR (August 24, 1991). And for 30 years, Ukraine has struggled to maintain that independence. The biggest struggle has been against many forms of Russian interference. Even in 1991, Russia recognized that Ukraine was the key to determining if the USSR would survive or not. The secession of Ukraine from the USSR ended any realistic chance of keeping the Soviet Union together. By December of 1991, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine had met to form a “Commonwealth of Independent States” to replace the USSR. Ukraine was officially independent and the USSR ceased to exist.
But Ukraine still struggled to be really independent. Russian influence and pro-Russian politicians refused to allow Ukraine to experience real freedom. In 2004 (the Orange Revolution), massive protests against the rigged election of the pro-Russian candidate, Victor Yanukovych, led to more than 500,000 protestors camping in the main square from November to January until the election was restored to the pro-Ukrainian candidate, Victor Yushchenko. In November of 2013, after Yanukovych was “elected” again, he refused to keep his promise of moving toward relations with the EU. This prompted massive protests and violent battles between his pro-Russian government and the hundreds of thousands of pro-EU protesters between November (2013) and February (2014). After snipers shot and killed 100 protestors, Yanukovych fled the country and Russian troops captured Crimea and attempted to capture eastern Ukraine. With no army to protect itself, Ukrainian volunteers formed armies to protect Ukraine in the east, and people even gave donations at grocery stores for these volunteer armies until the government could raise funds to supply national army. Because of these selfless heroes, Ukraine was able to maintain its independence as a country. Now Ukraine is celebrating 30 years of independence!
But, in reality, no country and no individual is completely independent. Every country depends to some degree on other countries and every individual is dependent on others. (Even the US exists today because other countries, especially France, helped the colonies in the Revolutionary War, and the current global pandemic has reminded us that we are all interconnected). We like to talk about our independence, but what we really mean is that we are mostly independent. In reality, we are all dependent to some degree. But that is not true when we speak about God and His independence.
The Independence of God is one doctrine that we rarely speak about, but it is one of the most basic and foundational attributes of God. This doctrine is often called the aseity of God or sometimes called the simplicity of God or even the freedom of God. Regardless of which term is used, the attribute of the independence of God is essential to our confidence in God and our relationship to Him.
