Our First Need – Sunday, September 21, 1980
We do need the Lord every hour, but one of our challenges is to know in what way.
One of the basic principles of economics is that needs and wants are unlimited, but resources to supply those needs are not. So, goods and services must be shared and apportioned out in one way or another. The system of the Lord however works on different principles. The resources of heaven are beyond the measure of man, and the Lord is a generous provider. He is ever solicitous of our welfare, anxious to help us. He stands at the door and waits for our knock.
He promised “(I will) . . . open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”1
Why then, with such a vast celestial storehouse to draw from; why do so many of us go without the things we need? There are no doubt a number of reasons, but one of the problems lies in not knowing what to ask for.
There is a grain of truth in the wit of Oscar Wilde. He said, “When the Gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.”2 Many of the things we pray for would be a curse instead of a blessing if the Lord gave us our way; sometimes even when we ask with the best intentions.
Some years ago, a forest ranger was stranded in a blizzard with his team and wagon. Back at his cabin his wife and children prayed fervently for the freezing temperatures to rise so their father could make it home, but the thermometer plummeted even lower. They had almost given up hope when they heard outside the bells of the horses and saw their husband and father approaching. The bitter cold had frozen the snow so solidly that he was able to drive home on the crust of it. If the Lord had answered this woman’s prayers and warmed the weather, her husband would have bogged down in the snowdrifts and died from exposure.
How many of our needs are like that We may think we need more money, but what we really need is the self-discipline that can come with more modest means. We may feel we need more attention and concern from others when what we really need is the chance to serve and take our minds off ourselves. There are times when we think we need rest and relaxation, but in reality, we would feel better by increasing our effort.
We may think we need power and prestige when we really need humility. On the other hand, the humble young man Saul had to be dragged from hiding at his own coronation. He needed to become a King.
Our first need then is to know what our needs really are; and how shall we know except we prayerfully consider, weigh the alternatives, establish our goals and look to where we would like to be. Then humbly ask the Lord for confirmation that these truly are our needs. We may be confident that as we make ourselves ready our needs will be met in the Lord’s time and in the Lord’s way.
1 Old Testament, Malachi 3:10.
2 The New Book of Unusual Quotations. Rudolph Flesch Ed., Harper & Row, New York, 1957, p. 295.
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September 21, 1980
Broadcast Number 2,666