The invincible strength that comes from knowing our neediness

The refrain (written by Robert Lory) of the hymn, ‘I Need Thee Every Hour’ has been running through my mind, keeping guard over my heart and mind as I move forward in various endeavors.

‘I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;

Ev’ry hour I need Thee;

Oh, bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee.’

Have you ever come to the end of yourself? Have you been brought low, utterly humiliated? Have you felt as though you’ve come completely undone and desperate? Have you had that experience of hitting rock bottom just to find it’s not the bottom? Have you realized that the saying, ‘God will never give you more than you can handle’ is a big, fat lie?

If you have, if you have intimately known your neediness, praise the LORD! He is drawing you to Himself. He is revealing Himself to you. He is growing you in the knowledge of His awesome love and care for you. He is providing you with the most precious, glorious opportunity and blessing to know Him and His love for you.

We do not like being needy. We are not comfortable with being needy. Neediness is considered a weakness and very much looked down upon. We are ashamed and can feel guilty when our neediness is exposed. We do all we can to deny and hide our neediness. We believe and profess the horrid lie that God only helps those who help themselves.

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this (a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of satan to harass me), that it should leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’” (II Corinthians 12:7-9)

In Christ, we are commanded to rejoice in our suffering, truly believing that our suffering is for our own good (our sanctification, being transformed into Christ’s character), and for God’s glory. (Romans 5:3-5; I Peter 4:12-13; I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Yet here’s Paul pleading with the Lord to remove this source of suffering. Here’s Paul, following Jesus’s instructions to ask, and to be persistent in prayer and not lose heart, believing without doubting Jesus’s promise about ‘how much more’ our heavenly Father gives good gifts. (Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:5-13; 18:1-8)

How many times have I prayed for relief from health issues, pleading that they are hindering my service to the LORD and His Church?! Isn't health 'good'? How many times have I prayed to make me be fruitful and multiple (through adoption too), pleading that children raised in the church are supposedly the future of the Church?!

The LORD has been faithful to open my eyes to see that He is all-wise and to see His hand in blessing me with these apparent weaknesses. To be lumped in with the ‘marginalized’ in the Church, is a wondrous blessing that I can sincerely thank Him for. (female, single till almost 31, no personal income, and childless – not exactly the type of church member most churches are desiring)

To have my faith tried, tested, and refined (deconstructed to be rightly constructed) to the point that I believe from my heart that God, not me, not programs, not methods and manipulation, will build His Church, in His way, in His timing, so that He will be the one to get all the glory, honor, and praise. He will surely do it. I no longer carry that burden of not doing my part by having children.

If Paul came to me as his biblical counselor (which we are all called to be to one another in Christ), sharing his burden, confusion, and heartache of this unanswered prayer, would I direct him immediately to James 4:3-4, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”

Lord willing, by the grace of God, I would not. Instead, the Helper would bring to my remembrance:

James 1:5-8, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Along with Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your thoughts.”

As Paul’s biblical counselor, my main responsibility, my sole duty is to point him to Christ. Christ Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor. Paul needs to not look to me, depend on me; but look to Jesus, depend on Jesus.

I’d need to come alongside Paul and say, I too do not understand, I too am grieving over this thorn in your flesh. Let us go to Christ together and seek Him in prayer, and in His Word for His wisdom, His peace, His strength to endure these hard things. Let us go together, and have our hearts and minds calmed and quieted, and find peace and rest for our souls. (Psalm 131)

In order to have this mindset, I need to know deeply my own need for Christ, my own lack of wisdom, and that my thoughts and ways are nowhere near as high as His. I need to be careful to not be a stumbling block, or hinder to his personal relationship with Jesus. I need to be mindful that I am not glorifying myself, building my own kingdom, feeding my own ego with giving in to the temptations of feeling needed and appearing to have it all figure out.

In order to truly love, and serve others as God has called me to, I need to have experienced and be experiencing Christ’s awesome, gracious love and service to me - to the extent that I understand my utter dependence on Him. I need to full grasp that none of this is about me. I need to deny myself. Apart from Him I can do nothing. Apart from Christ I am the most foolish fool, the most pathetic weakling, the most deplorable low-life. It’s all about Christ Jesus. (I John 4:19; Matthew 16:24; John 15:5)

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:9-10)

Do you believe that? Have you experienced that? Have you found rest in the LORD? Is the joy of the LORD your strength? Have you experienced a calm and quiet heart and mind?

-Soli Deo gloria