Our Unmet Needs - Trusting in God's promise to provide
By Charles F. Stanley
Are there circumstances you�ve been praying about for years? Have you repeatedly placed certain situations before the Father but still feel as if He will never intervene? Perhaps it is a long, drawn-out illness, lingering unemployment, or a relationship that hasn�t turned out as you hoped it would. When promising opportunities arise but then fail to be the answer you longed for, the immense disappointment can lead to doubting God will provide at all.
Despite the promise of Philippians 4:19, �My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,� you may be unsure that He�ll really come through. And as the Thanksgiving/Christmas season begins, your heart may be so broken, dreams so shattered, and needs so painfully unmet that you wonder if there will ever be anything for which to thank the Lord.
At times like this, remember: God is absolutely faithful. This may be a truth you embrace on a factual level while still feeling very disheartened. Why? Because in focusing on the persistence of your problem, you inevitably head down the road of discouragement and unbelief. If you want to grow in godliness while waiting, you must begin with the truth of Scripture and God�s trustworthiness as heavenly Father. Where you center your attention determines how you think and make decisions, which ultimately determines your path.
God promises to meet all our needs.
The reality is that God does, in fact, meet all our needs. And as believers, you and I are called to walk by faith in Him, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Therefore, as we await His answers to prayer, we should pursue a deeper relationship with Him and discover what He�s trying to accomplish in and through us. With this in mind, here are three essential truths that will guide us as we wrestle with unmet needs.
God wants to meet your needs. Throughout Scripture, the Lord invites us to petition Him with our requests (Matt. 7:7-10; Phil. 4:6-7; 1 John 5:14-15). As our heavenly Father, He wants to provide for us, and the greatest proof of this is the gift of His Son. Jesus came to earth to meet people�s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs by teaching the truth, healing the sick, casting out demons, and finally, dying on a cross to save us. If God didn�t spare His own Son from death on our behalf, won�t He graciously give us all things as well (Rom. 8:32)?
The Lord knows your needs. Although we�re told to make our requests known to God (Phil. 4:6), the purpose of prayer is not to inform Him of our needs. He�s omniscient and already knows what we�re going through. The reason for seeking God�s help is to acknowledge our dependence upon Him. The goal should be to voice our concerns and then leave the method and timing of answering them to Him, trusting in His wisdom to do what is best.
Because God�s knowledge reaches beyond ours, He is also aware of needs we don�t realize we have. From His divine perspective, He looks deep into our hearts, as well as into every situation we face. Although our preference is immediate relief, He focuses on our spiritual and eternal needs. That is why it may appear as if He�s not keeping His promise�because He may be working to meet an even more important need in your life.
God is able to meet your needs. Nothing can thwart Almighty God. He plans the solution to your problem, arranges the events, and brings about the answer at just the right time. Jesus� promise to His disciples still rings true today: �Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you� (Matt. 7:7). No matter how big the problem may be, God is bigger. He �is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us� (Eph. 3:20).
But what if my needs remain unmet?
When difficulty or suffering continues, how can we reconcile the Lord�s promise with our unanswered requests?
Differentiate between needs and desires.Since the promise of Philippians 4:19 applies exclusively to needs, the first step should be to determine whether you have a need or a desire. A need is something that is essential to fulfilling God�s purpose for your life. This would include the basics of food, clothing, and shelter (Matt. 6:31-33), but it could also be something specific that�s required to fulfill your personal calling from God. For instance, if you�re a missionary who delivers Bibles in China, having some form of transportation would be necessary for you. But how the Lord meets that need is up to Him. He may provide a mule instead of a truck, but He will supply a way.
In contrast, desires are for our pleasure or enjoyment. But that doesn�t necessarily mean they�re bad. God is not pro-need and anti-desire. In fact, in Psalm 37:4, we�re promised, �Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.� Sometimes God puts a longing in our hearts for something that aligns perfectly with His will. He�s a generous and loving Father �who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy� (1 Tim. 6:17).
Determine the origin of your need. Knowing where a need originates helps us understand God�s way of meeting it. Whatever created it will determine how He provides. Some of our problems are simply the result of living in a fallen world. Then the Lord works to strengthen us so we can endure and respond to life�s problems with godly attitudes and actions (1 Pet. 2:12). Other needs are created by our own unwise choices. In such cases, He may delay the answer in order to teach us a lesson that will protect us from going down the same foolish path again (Heb. 12:11-13).
But what if you can�t determine the specific cause of your need? You might have a vague sense of dissatisfaction or emptiness, but you can�t put your finger on the source. This kind of neediness is sometimes a heart issue. It may be the result of past experiences�perhaps as far back as childhood�which have damaged your self-esteem. In this case, the Lord�s method of healing your soul may require years of gradually renewing your mind to align with who He says you are in Christ (Eph. 1:3-7). No person, possession, or accomplishment can fill this void; only Christ can do that.
Learn what your responsibilities are. Sometimes God steps into a situation and supplies what�s needed without any effort on our part, but more often than not, we will have a role to play. Our first and most obvious responsibility is to ask the Lord for help. Perhaps He has withheld the solution simply because we haven�t asked, or have asked with wrong motives (James 4:2-3). In doing this, He isn�t being hardhearted; He�s just drawing us to Himself. He wants us to talk with Him about our concerns, depending on Him for guidance and provision.
Our second responsibility is to wait for God to meet our need in His time. When a situation is prolonged, we tend to conclude that the Lord wants us to fix it ourselves, so we jump in and try to resolve the issue. By doing so, we miss out on what He has planned. Not only that, but we often end up in a bigger mess.
The third responsibility is to do exactly what the Lord tells us to do. Now you may be thinking, I never hear God tell me to do anything. Well, if you�re a believer, I can guarantee He�s speaking to you. The problem is your spiritual hearing. If you will spend time alone with the Lord, reading and meditating on His Word, you�ll soon start hearing from Him. He may guide you by means of a Bible verse or a quiet nudging of your heart as you pray about the matter. The important thing is that you obey Him. This isn�t always easy. Since God doesn�t think the way we do, some of His instructions may seem illogical (Isa. 55:8-9). But if you follow His lead, He will guide you straight into His divine solution to your problem.
Hebrews 9:15,26b-28: Christ is the mediator of a **NEW COVENANT** so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant...But now He has APPEARED once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the SACRIFICE of Himself... so Christ was SACRIFICED ONCE to take away the sins of many people, and He will *APPEAR* a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
Hebrews 8:8,9,13: God found fault with the people and said: The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a **NEW COVENANT** with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will **NOT** be like the covenant I made with their forefathers.....By calling this covenant **NEW**, He made the first one **OBSOLETE**; and what is **OBSOLETE** and aging will soon disappear.� When all the words of the New Covenant were completed by the Book of Revelation in AD 96.
Hebrew 10:8-10: Jesus said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them"Although the law required them to be made. The He {Jesus} said. "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He {Jesus} set aside the first {Covenant} to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus ONCE FOR ALL!!
Isaiah 53:5,6: "But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all!!"
In the old covenant God's commandments were only preached to Jews but in the New Covenant Jesus commands us to preach to every nation in the world teaching them to obey *EVERYTHING* He commanded and everything would also include all of the approximately 400 NT commandments also taught in Acts to Revelation {See 2 Timothy 3-16 to 4:2.}
There were 613 OT commandments and Jesus changed many of them including all of the strict Sabbath commands and all of the commands to stone someone for sinning {Jesus says that he who is without sin should cast the first stone} Jesus also eliminated all the strict Levitical dietary laws declaring that all foods are now clean. And Jesus also commanded us not to make any vows or oaths {Matt 5:33-37}on anything Just let your Yes be yes and your no no.
Jesus also eliminated the eye for an eye laws and commanded us to always offer up the other cheek and to love {See Matt 5:38-48} our enemies. And of course Jesus eliminated all sacrifices and offerings for sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Jesus also eliminated the earthly rewards for faithful service and commanded us to sell our possessions and give to the poor and get TREASURES IN HEAVEN and **THEN** to come follow Him!
Luke 12:33,34: Jesus says, �Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted....For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.�
Matthew 20:20-24: �All these {Commandments} I have kept, the young man said. �What do I still lack?� Jesus answered, �If you want to be perfect, go, sell tour possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. **THEN** come, follow Me.� When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus says, �It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.�
Luke 6:20: Jesus says �Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.�
2 Corinthians 6:4-10: As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance, in troubles, hardships and distresses, in beatings, imprisonments; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love, in truthful speech and in the power of God; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; dying, and yet we live on; beaten and yet not killed; *POOR*, yet making many rich; *HAVING NOTHING*; and yet possessing everything.�
I Timothy 6:5-10: There are men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with Contentment is great gain....If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.�
I Timothy 2:9,10: �I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.�
Revelation 22:12: Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming soon! My *REWARD* is *WITH ME*, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done!"
2 Corinthians 5:9,10: "So we make it our goal to please Him..For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him {Not NOW} for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad!"
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in His **FATHER'S GLORY WITH HIS ANGELS**{See Matt 24:30-31;25:31-40}, and **THEN** {Not with earthly rewards now} He will *REWARD* each person according to what he has done,"
I Peter 1:13: �Therefore, prepare your minds for *ACTION*, and set your hope *FULLY* on the grace to be given *YOU* when Jesus Christ is *REVEALED*.
