Learning to Lean: Why faith in God is more than a “crutch”
Using Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” as a starting point, this devotional addresses the claim that faith is merely a psychological crutch. It contrasts skeptical critiques with the Bible’s portrayal of God as both comforter and sovereign Lord. The article calls readers to reject self-reliance and “lean” fully on the Lord.
- “Lean on Me” becomes a doorway to consider what it means to rely on God.
- Skeptics’ critiques are weighed against reasoned faith and Scripture.
- Believers are urged to trust the Lord rather than lean on their own understanding.
by David Faust
Bill Withers and “Lean on Me”
Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, West Virginia, Bill Withers was the son of a coal miner. Thirteen children were born into his family, but only six survived infancy. After serving nine years in the Navy, Bill became a milkman and later worked in a factory that manufactured airplane parts. In his free time, he learned to play the guitar, overcame a tendency to stutter, and began writing and playing his own songs.
You may recognize his hit tunes “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Just the Two of Us.” In 2015, Bill Withers was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and when he died at age 81 in 2020, fans fondly remembered his best-known song, “Lean on Me,” which reminds us “we all need somebody to lean on.”
Is God a Crutch?
Skeptics ask, with a bit of condescension, “Isn’t faith in God just a crutch—a comforting intoxicant for the weak?” You should be strong and self-sufficient, they say, and take responsibility for your own life instead of leaning on God.
Sigmund Freud considered faith wishful thinking, a product of weakness and fear. He argued that, instead of humans being created in the image of God, it’s the other way around: Humans created a divine Father-figure to protect us. This view implies that as we mature, we should grow out of our childish reliance on God and face life bravely on our own. Karl Marx called religion “the opiate of the masses”—a way to keep ordinary people pacified in drug-like contentment while the rich and powerful exploit them. According to the skeptic Bertrand Russell, “Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly . . . the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes.”
But if faith is rooted in fear, ignorance, and immaturity, how do you explain the fact that people of great learning, courage, and maturity believe in God? C. S. Lewis argued that for every need, something exists to fulfill that need. Ducks feel the need to swim, and there is such a thing as water. We feel the need to eat, and there is such a thing as food. If we feel the need for God, isn’t it logical to think there is a God who can fulfill that need?
More Than a Soft-Spoken Savior
At the Last Supper, John leaned against Jesus (John 13:25), and as an old gospel song reminds us, we can lean on God’s everlasting arms. “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Isaiah 40:29, New International Version). He is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
But the true God described in the Bible is far more than a soft-spoken Savior who soothes our hurts. He’s also our Master and Ruler, the Lord of Heaven and earth. The God of grace and mercy is also the all-knowing Judge who is aware of our every thought and our every move—the God from whom there is no escape (Psalm 139:1-7). Would sinners invent a sovereign God who is holy, all-powerful, eternal, and unchanging, who requires obedience to his will?
Christians voluntarily surrender to God, while atheism tries to kick sand in his face. We don’t create a god who makes us feel good; we accept the authority of the living Lord who exists and rules whether that makes us comfortable or not. Discipleship isn’t for wimps. It takes guts to follow Jesus. He never said, “Lean on your crutch and follow me.” He said, “Take up your cross and follow me,” and a cross is hardly a crutch.
Even atheists lean on something. Will we lean on God, or as one seeker told me, just “go have another gin and tonic and play a little harder”? Someone said, “God is not a crutch—he’s a stretcher! We couldn’t even limp into heaven without him.”
Self-reliance has its limits. Scripture says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). We all need somebody to lean on, and that Somebody is the Lord.
Author: David Faust
David Faust serves as contributing editor of Christian Standard and senior associate minister with East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of Not Too Old: Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years.
