God Can and Will Provide – Let Him

Abraham Maslow is famous for his Hierarchy of Needs. His theory begins with the foundational needs of physiological and safety. He moves on to ways we fill our deeper needs – love and belonging then esteem needs.  His hierarchy reaches its pinnacle with the need of self-actualization.  Even though he classifies all five as needs, a case could be made that they include wants and desires in  the upper three tiers. 

The Christian problem  with this is that Jesus taught in Matthew 4:19 “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.” He gave the disciples purpose first. With that purpose in mind, they followed Him. No promises, no guarantees, no strategy sessions. Just a purpose. With faith. These men walked by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Maslow had it backwards. He is telling us to get your ducks in a row and then find our purpose in life. Christ calls us and in following Him we find our purpose.

Needs. From a Christian perspective needs are essential provision – what is required if we are to survive, thrive, and carry out God’s purpose. In Matthew 6:32-33 Jesus promised “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.” This is a conditional promise. Before we can expect God to provide our needs we are to give His kingdom and His righteousness first place. If your perceived needs are not being met, take a look at your priorities. Where does God’s kingdom rank in those priorities? He does provide our needs. However, we cannot go on a wild spending spree, buying (on credit) big houses, fancy cars, expensive vacations, and the like, then expect God to meet the need to pay our bills.

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” This is addressed as a specific promise that those who are faithful and devoted in their giving to Christ will never suffer lack.

Wants. It is not wrong for a Christian to have wants. These are things that bring us enjoyment or comfort but are not essential to our physical, mental,  or spiritual well being. If you ask me what I want for dinner, I might tell you I want a good filet mignon. It will fill my need for food, but so would a hamburger. There is nothing wrong with having wants, we all have them. Remember that the Bible frequently refers to banquets. Our wants should be based in scripture.   

Wants can be problematic if they become an obsession. I Timothy 6:8-10 (CSB) tells us “If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Unrestrained wants can easily become the focal point of our lives, which can lead us down the path of destruction as Paul observed.

Desires. When we start acting as “super-spiritual” Christians we may misguidedly treat desires with the feeling that they are not things to which we should aspire. The Bible often categorizes desires into two primary forces: desires of the flesh and desires of the spirit.  Desires of the flesh are seen as self-centered focused on self-gratification or worldly approval. Someone driven excessively toward these desires may often appear to be greedy, jealous, or having selfish ambitions. On the other hand, desires of the spirit include God-centered longings that align with His nature. These desires lead us to produce the fruit of the spirit. Obviously desires of the Spirit are good desires. But what about desires of the flesh?  

C.S. Lewis suggested that humans are “desire factories” and everything we do flows from a deep, underlying desire. God gives us the ability to form desires. So our spiritual formation is not about destroying desires but re-aligning them from God’s perspective. Many of our desires are not wrong but they can’t be allowed to control us. 

Paul Tripp wrote that there are three dangers when a desire is perceived as a need. First, we feel entitled to that desire. Spiritually we are telling God that we have a right to that desire. Some would call this the “name it and claim it” theology. Second, once we feel entitled to something, we tend to demand it. No one likes demanding people. They tend to be harsh, impatient, and unforgiving. I once belonged to a church that had a member who was physically disabled, using a cane. She had her pew in our church. If someone happened to be sitting in her seat, she would shoo them off with her cane. She demanded her seat and was not well-liked. Third comes judgment. At this stage we tend to judge people by their willingness and ability to provide for our perceived needs. If they fail to do so, we tend to treat them with something less than love. Recall that, in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.” Matthew 7:1-2 (CSB). The lesson is that God uses the same standard on us that we use on others.

Aligning our wants and desires to God’s perspective may sound pretty radical. That involves turning everything over to God. Remember, He is omniscient. He knows everything about everything, including you. He knows what we need better than we know ourselves. He is also omnipotent. He has the power to provide anything and everything we need.  What assurance that we have a loving God who knows what we need and is able to provide. A scripture with promise is Malachi 3:10 where the prophet quotes God “‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,’” says the Lord of armies, ‘“if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.'”

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To learn more about a new life in Christ, click here. 

All scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise indicated.

Photo credit to geralt on Pixabay and to Stockcake.