Basic Needs

 

Mark 8:2-3 I have pity for these people because they have been with me now three days, and have no food; If I send them away to their houses with no food, they will be overcome by weariness on the way, and some of them have come from far.

Do you ever feel that God is so busy with important concerns that He can’t possibly be aware of your needs? Just as Jesus was concerned about the food needs of the people who had followed Him and listened to Him for three days, He is concerned about our daily needs. At another time Jesus said our heavenly Father is aware of our needs (Matthew 6:32). Is there is any doubt in your heart that God wouldn’t be interested in your needs?

The blue whale is believed to be the largest animal known to have ever existed on earth. Its diet consists almost exclusively of the shrimplike crustaceans or krill. There are about 25000 blue whales in the ocean. A single whale can eat 3500 kgs of krill in a day. This mammoth quantity of food resource is replaced in the ocean within the next day!  The author of Psalm 104 describes his provision in his own poetical style in verse 21:  “The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God”. No whale or lion is heard of starving to death. Even in the 21st century, shortage of food is a major human problem simply because man had lost his dependence on God.

Psalms 27:13, 14 I says “I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”. The Lord GOD says in Ezekiel 34:11 "I myself will be their Shepherd. I will search for my sheep and take care of them’’. If we remain strong and take heart, we will have the confidence  to believe that we will see the goodness of the Lord not only in the next life but also in this life---the "land of the living."

Nothing is too large for Him to handle and no need is too small to escape His attention. St. Paul wrote in Phillip. 4:19 “…God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. “Your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him”, Jesus assures, and goes on to say, ‘’ Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

(Matthew 6:8, 26, 28, 29, 30). 

2Corinth  9:10 And he who gives seed for putting into the field and bread for food, will take care of the growth of your seed, at the same time increasing the fruits of your righteousness;

      God gives us resources for us to use and invest for Him. Paul uses the illustration of seed to explain that the resources He supplies are not to be hidden, or consumed carelessly, or wasted. Instead, they should be cultivated to produce more crops. When we invest what God has given us in His service, He will give us, even more, to give in His service. 

      There are a few verses of promise in the scripture that can be misinterpreted to mean that God is some kind of benevolent grandfather, a celestial pushover who can be manipulated to get our things done. See below:

Psalms 34:9 10 For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.

John  14:13  …and whatever request you make in my name, that I will do, so that the Father may have glory in the Son.

John 15: 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 16:23  ….Truly I say to you, Whatever request you make to the Father, He will give it to you in my name.

      The above verses are not a blanket promise that all Christians will have everything they want. Instead, they mean that all those who call upon Him in their need will be answered, sometimes in unexpected ways. God knows what we need, and our deepest needs are spiritual. Even those many Christians who face unbearable poverty and hardship, they still have enough spiritual nourishment to live for God. If you have God, you have all you need. “My grace is sufficient for you”. Even if you feel that you are in dire need of something, God may allow you to go without it, in order to help you grow more dependant on Him.  St. Paul’s testimony is classic:

2Corinth 12:7-10 ‘’… So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness’.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.  That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. In God’s view, His

      servant’s need to learn an important lesson in obedience and discipline was more crucial than his immediate healing.

      There are other reasons why your prayers are not answered. James is quite blunt about it: “You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure’ (James 4:3). It is time we examined the contents of our prayers and our motives.

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