Needing God: Part VII

Now that we understand that as humans we are naturally a needy species, what do we need? Who do we need? We need God. What is the answer for the problems we face as individuals and as a society? God.

I need God on every level - to repair the damage of the garden. I need God to fill me, to soothe me, to restore me, to direct and guide me. No one else or nothing else can replace the love and mercy of my heavenly Father. He knows the number of hairs on my head; He knows the motives behind my intentions; He knows my pain, my sorrow, my dreams, my failures in a way that’s free of human perceptions and preconceived notions and judgments.

So why do we ever believe that we need someone or something other than God? We say and believe we need more money, a better job, a newer car, a bigger house. The only need that should consume us is our need for more of God.

We spend so much time focusing on our external needs: I need to go to the grocery store, I need to clean the house today, I need to start coloring my hair more often, I need to ... we expend so much energy on the fleeting needs of our flesh, that we don’t seem to have the energy left to explore and pursue our need of God.

But who is God? We live in a world that has redefined God. Francis Schaeffer says that when we are left with only the word “god,” there is no reason not to cross out the word itself. What he means is that if the word god is an abstract, indefinable, subjective word, then God is no longer a personal creator who loves and sacrifices for His children. He is no longer the God of the Bible but just a concept that can be redefined according to experience and personal preference.

Who do we believe God is? Have we reinvented Him in any way? Do we view Him through the lens of the baggage of our experiences, our religions, and our traditions? When we separate God from how He is defined in His Word, we are not much different than the world.
Karl Jaspers, a German existentialist who believed that even though our minds tell us life is an absurd, we may still have some huge experience that encourages us to believe that there is a meaning to life - meaning derived from experience, apart from reason.

As Christians, we often inadvertently take the habits and patterns of the world to church with us. Do we feed our emotional needs by seeking the experience without the reason or content? Have we lived a life that says I need experience to know I exist instead of saying I need God because it is He that gives my life meaning?

If we have, we will be left with despair. Why? Because we have substituted the fleeting physical and emotional manifestations of experience for the eternal truth of a reasonable God who can be known through His Spirit and His Word.

It is only when we truly attach ourselves to His Word that can we tell the difference between spiritual experience and spiritual awakening.

I need God, you need God, we all need God. Simple words that carry a deep spiritual significance.

Lord of all my needs, help me to take the time, the opportunity to listen to the still, small voice. Give me rest in Your presence. I glory in my need for You. Clear away the worldly debris that has burdened and distracted me. In Jesus name, I embrace the freedom of Christ and stand firm in His love and mercy and grace.

Check out: Hebrews 13:8-9