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.9. The Provision of His Presence CJS'Are you aware that God is with you always? Many Christians readily proclaim, "God is always there,>' but if they are pressed for an honest response, they will also admit, "I don't always feel God. I'm not always aware of His presence with me." Too often this is true when we experience periods of intense neediness or when we truly confront our inner state of neediness for the first time. In the previous chapter we discussed primarily how God provides a way out for us when we have need, and we briefly touched upon the nature of God as He walks with us through our need all the way to His full provi'sion and blessing. In this chapter, I want to focus on the nature of God's relationship with us and how we can fully experience the pro- vision of His presence. DELIGHTING IN THE LORD Psalm 37:4 gives us one of the most precious and sweet promises of God related to our desire_s: Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shaltgive you the desires ofyour heart. How many people do you know who have that verse underlined or highlighted in their Biblesl 105 106 Our Unmet Needs But look at the first line of that psalm: "Delight yourself also in the LORD." When you delight yourself in another person, you spend as much time as possible with that person, and you get to know that person as well as possible. When you are delighted in your relationship with another person, you are fulfilled, complete, satisfied, content, and joyful in your relationship. If you experience such a relationship, many mate- rial and physical things usually become very unimportant. Think back to a time when you were very much in love with another person. You could spend hours and hours with that person doing virtu- ally nothing, with nothing, and at very little expense. Just taking a long walk with that person or sitting on a porch swing by the hour with that person was sheer delight. Driving-to get an ice-cream cone and sitting in the car watching the people go by-those were satisfying and enjoyable moments. You weren't concerned about the designer label on the clothes you were wearing, the make of the watch on your wrist, or even the model of the car you were sitting in. You weren't concerned about hav- ing a lot of other people around you. You were fully content just to be in the presence of the one you loved. The most important thing to you in the moments you spent together was the relationship you were building. And so it is when we come to delight in our relationship with the Lord. Nothing else really matters when we experience an intimate time with the Lord. Everything else pales in comparison to Him. As the old Gospel song "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" says, in the light ofJesus' glory and grace, "the things of earth will grow strangely dim." Are you content when you are with the Lord? Do you truly delight in Him? Are you spending enough time with the Lord to become delighted in Him? I have discovered over the years that most people I meet haven't taken the time or made the effort to get to know the Lord. Not really. Not deeply. Not in an intimate way that allows them to feel the heartbeat of God and to know God's vast and eternal love. The reasons for their failure to know the Lord in a deep and satisfying way are many-fear of God' s judgment, fear of what others might say, lack of information, poor teaching in the past, a failure of perception or understanding, a lack of making the Lord a priority. Once a person truly gets to know the Lord, however, that person is going to discover that it is a delight to know the Lord. No times are The Provision of His Presence 107 sweeter than the times spent with Him. No times are more fulfilling, sat- isfying, or joyful than the times spent basking in His presence. When our relationship is one of delight in the Lord, we are not going to want to do things, possess or use things, or enter into any relationship that will damage in any way our relationship with the Lord. Again, think back to the way you felt when you were deeply in love. To the best of your ability, you didn't let anything come between you and your loved one. Nothing mattered as much as keeping your relationship as won- derful as it was on the first day you fell in love. So it is with the person who delights himself in the Lord. Such a per- son will not want anything that might inhibit, hinder, stall, or interfere with his relationship with the Lord. In terms we have discussed previ- ously, the persori will want only what is good for the relationship. When we seek the Lord and delight ourselves in Him we want only what is pleasing to Him and only what He wants us to have. Furthermore, we will be satisfied completely with what the Lord gives us. As 1 John 1:3 tells us, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." That's the ultimate fellowship! Knowing God. Communicating with Him-pouring out our hearts to Him and hearing His desires, His plan for us, His purposes. Loving Him with all our hearts and receiving an awareness of His vast love. Being at peace with God and knowing God's peace in our hearts. Praising God and being filled with God's joy. Being in a position to say," My God." That is truly what it means to have fellowship with God. Goo's PROMISE TO MEET OUR NEEDS When God meets our inner needs with the provision of His presence, we can be assured always that part of His provision will be to give us these things: Contentment-deep and abiding inner peace and calm Strength-great courage and fortitude to endure all things Fulfillment-a full and satisfying feeling of supply related to our purpose on this earth Throughout this book, we have been focusing on God's need-meet- ing promise in Philippians 4:19: "My God shall supply all your need 108 Our Unmet Needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." To fully understand this verse, we must understand its context. Paul's entire letter to the Philippians is related to needs and need- meeting. The Philippians were tremendously helpful in meeting Paul's material and financial needs. Paul began his letter to them by saying, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now" (Phil. 1 :3-5 ). Their fellowship in the gospel is translated in one version as their participation in the gospel- in other words, the things that the Philippians did to help Paul spread the gospel and teach the new believers. In the fourth chapter of Philippians, Paul again thanked them for their support: But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hun- gry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning ofthe gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me con- cerninggiving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having receivedfrom Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice,. well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4: 10-19) I want you to notice two things in this passage. First, Paul was a man who knew about need. He was writing the letter to the Philippians from a prison cell in Rome, so he certainly had a keen awareness of his exter- nal needs even as he wrote. Paul never made a claim that the Christian life is a need-free life, or that as Christians, we can mature to the point that we never face need. Paul knew that needs exist for us every day of The Provision of His Presence 109 our lives. We never outgrow our neediness or mature to the point that we don't have needs. Second, Paul was willing to admit his neediness and to share what he learned about needs and how to deal with them. Paul encouraged the Philippians in the truths he learned from having experienced needs. Never be ashamed of your past needs or your current neediness. Be quick to encourage others by telling them how God has met your needs in the past and how you believe He will meet their needs. CONTENT IN ALL STATES Paul said that he learned to be content regardless of his circum- stances-in whatever state he was in. Paul was not content with troubles, trials, suffering, pain, or need. He felt pain and need just as much as any other person. But he learned to be content in times of difficulty. His internal state was one of contentment even when his outward state was one of turmoil, trial, or trouble. No stranger to outer pain and suffering, Paul was stoned and left for dead in Lystra, beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, and persecuted and defamed publicly nearly everywhere he went. To those in the Corinthian church who compared him to other preachers, Paul wrote that he was "in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often" (2 Cor. 11:23). He then went on to detail for the Corinthians some of the needs and troubles he had experienced in his ministry: From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleepless- ness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and naked- ness-besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. (2 Cor. 11:24-28) Few people can match Paul in severity and frequency of need and suf- fering externally. Yet Paul wrote that in the midst ofsuch outer troubles, he learned to be content internally. 110 Our Unmet Needs How many truly contented people do you know? I suspect that the nu:mber is very few. And yet if you look closely at the lives of those who truly and genuinely are contented, you are going to find that their contentment has nothing whatsoever to do with material things, relationships, or achievements. I've met truly contented people who were single, and I've met some who were married. I have met gen- uinely contented people who were poor, and a few who had been given great wealth. I have met contented people who were totally without fame and recognition, and in many ways, without fantastic jobs or great successes, and I've met a few who were content regardless of their fame and success. In many cases, the very thing that people think will bring them con- tentment turns out to be the very thing that creates more problems and turmoil for them. In the end, only the Lord Jesus Christ Himself can bring about contentment in a person's life. Paul was able to say, "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:11-13). Be careful that you don't misread these verses. Paul did not say that Christ strengthened him only when he was struggling, suffering, hun- gry, or abased. Christ strengthened Paul in all states in which he found himself. He strengthened Paul when he was full, abounding, safe, and without pain or struggle. We often don't think about this. Paul had no less need for Christ's strength when things were good. In times of abounding, Paul needed Christ's strength to keep him humble, keenly aware of others and generous toward them, thankful, energized, and an active witness of God's power. When things are going well for us, we need Christ's strength to keep us from pride, laziness, and self-suffi- ciency. Paul said that he learned to be content "in whatever state I am." His contentment was in Christ-not in things or in circumstances. His con- tentment lay in his relationship with the Need Meeter, not in the fact that his needs were met momentarily. I heard about a man who experienced great contentment and love in the presence of his wife just by holding her hand. The man's wife suffered with a terminal disease for three years before she died, and as she became The Provision of His Presence 111 weaker and weaker in the final months, the man pulled his chair close to hers, and they held hands and stared into each other's eyes. No words needed to be spoken. No physical embrace needed to be shared. The love was just as rich and freely flowing between them through the looks in their eyes and the touch of their fingertips. No grasping. No desperate clinging. No clamoring for attention. No pleas for acts of affection. True contentment is always marked by a lack of striving-a lack of grasping, a lack of demanding, a lack of insistence. True contentment lies not in having, but in knowing-of knowing that you are accepted, loved, forgiven, valued in spite of what you may or may not have in your hands or surrounding you. True contentment is not rooted in environment or in any aspect of the natural and spiritual world. Ultimate contentment is rooted in relation- ship with Jesus Christ and in Him alone. STRENGTH TO FACE ALL CIRCUMSTANCES Paul also taught that he had learned to experience strength in all things. Paul might have had times when he felt weak in his flesh, but he knew that even in those times of natural and physical weakness, he could experience the strength of Christ internally. Paul wrote to the Corinthians about his ability to feel strong spiritually in the face of phys- ical weakness: A thorn in the flesh wasgiven to me, a messenger ofSatan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, crMy grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.» Therefore mostgladly I wilt rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:7-10) Paul's tho'rn-in-the-flesh experience brought him to the position where he could fully allow the strength of Christ to be his strength. Paul was not saying that he delighted in the pain and suffering; rather, he had learned those were opportunities when he could and would feel an even greater flow of Christ's strength in his inner being. Paul's reliance upon 112 Our Unmet Needs Christ's strength became a vivid witness to others who saw his physical suffering, and for that, Paul was grateful. Some people today will claim, "Troubles make you strong." They are wrong. Troubles destroy some people. Troubles weaken others. There is nothing inherent about troubles that results in making us strong emo· tionally and spiritually. The truth, as Paul stated it so well, is that when we rely upon Christ Jesus in our times of trouble, He makes us strong. He imparts His strength to us and as we receive His strength, we are made strong. A FULL SUPPLY FOR ALL THAT IS LACKING Paul said that he learned to experience "supply" for all his needs. We do not know what gifts Epaphroditus brought from the Philippians to Paul. We do know that Paul regarded their gift as pleasing to God and more than sufficient. To be supplied to the point that you can say, "I have all and abound," is to be fully satisfied. (See Phil. 4:17.) Paul saw all of his needs as being met, and out of that inner feeling of satisfaction, Paul boldly declared to the Philippians his assurance that they, too, would have all of their need supplied by God according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (v. 19). Most people tend to think that the gifts Epaphroditus brought to Paul were only material. The gift no doubt was at least partly material since the family and friends of Roman prisoners were expected to provide material provision for those detained by Roman officials, especially those under house arrest as Paul appeared to be. But prisoners' needs then and now are not merely material. They are also social, emotional, and spiri- tual. Paul was undoubtedly encouraged by the friendship ofEpaphroditus. Paul could communicate fully with him about matters pertaining to his faith and to the work of the Lord. Paul no doubt could both laugh and cry with him. Such Christ-centered friendship is priceless! Furthermore, Epaphroditus no doubt brought a good word about Paul's friends in Philippi and elsewhere in the regions where Paul had traveled and ministered. How encouraging that must have been to Paul-to know that his work had not been in vain, that his efforts were bearing fruit, that the work of the Lord was going forward, that the church in Philippi was strong. We all need others to affirm that our The Provision of His Presence 113 efforts have been valuable and beneficial to them. We need their gifts, their friendship, and their encouragement that our lives have had pur- pose and meaning. Through such affirmation, we experience a full feel- ing in our hearts that we call fulfillment. A deep satisfaction comes when we know we truly have helped others in an eternally beneficial way. Paul received a full blessing from Epaphroditus-material provision for his external needs but also emotional and spiritual encouragement that was a provision for Paul's inner needs. Wouldn't we all like to be able to say with Paul that regardless of what happens to us, we are content, strong, and fully satisfied? In truth, we can have that inner state of being. A LEARNING PROCESS We should also note that it was a learning process for Paul. He said very plainly, "I have learned... "(vv. 11-12 ). Paul didn't instantly reach a state of inner contentment, strength, and satisfaction. He grew into that state of being as he "learned Christ." What Paul had learned, we can learn. Paul made that very clear. Even if you have never felt much peace in your life, you can learn to be con- tent. If you have always thought of yourself as weak and needy, you can learn to be strong, and if you have thought of yourself as strong, you can learn to be stronger. If you have felt uncertain about your purpose in life and whether you are fulfilling it before God, you can learn to experience inner fulfillment as well as learn what it means to receive an abundance of external blessing. This learning process is part of a growing relationship with the Lord. It ultimately is "learning God." It is knowing the Lord and delighting in Him with increasing delight. EXPERIENCING Goo's PROVISION IN CRISIS TIMES God desires that we experience Him always and that we draw con - tentment, strength, and total satisfaction from our relationship with Him at all times. It is especially important, however, that we experience the provision of God's presence in the stormy times of our lives, the times 114 Our Unmet Needs when we are keenly aware of our needs or neediness. Such times come for us all. Every person's life is marked by storms of one kind or another. The reality for each ofus is that we are in a storm, have just emerged from a storm, or are about to enter a storm. No geographic area of the earth is immune from natural atmospheric storms, and no person or relationship is immune from inner storms. Since we cannot avoid storms, we must learn to deal with them. All kinds of atmospheric storms impact us on this earth-windstorms, sandstorms, rainstorms, thunderstorms, snowstorms. At times these storms are driving, blinding, destructive, and costly, even to the costing of life itself. Such storms often make the headlines-they evoke a ripple effect of devastation in the general public and, in many cases, bring about a response of public compassion and concern. We also face a number of emotional storms in our lives, no less blind- ing, destructive, and devastating. If these storms are known by the pub- lic, even a _small group of friends, they also have a ripple effect. No emotional storm impacts only one person. The response to emotional storms is somewhat different from the response to atmospheric storms. Some respond to the victims of emo- tional stqrms with compassion and concern, others shun the persons at the center of the storms, and still others tend to be critical of those who experience emotional storms, usually blaming them in some way for what has happened. In dealing with a storm, we are called to examine the way in which we confront a storm and the manner in which we respond to both the instigators and the victims of that storm. What happens if the emotional storm a person experiences is not read- ily known by others? Does the storm impact others any less? Not really. An emotional storm within a person or family will spill over to impact others in ways that may not be readily understood or even identified as relating to the storm. For example, anger that brews within a person is likely to erupt suddenly and sometimes violently, and often it is aimed at someone who was not the initial reason for the anger. The innocent vic- tims of such anger are left wondering, Where did that come from? What brought that on? They have no understanding of the inner emotional storm that had been raging and very likely is continuing to rage in silence within the person. The ProPisi on of His Presence 115 The conclusion we must draw is this: storms occur, and storms cause damage-sooner or later, to greater or lesser degrees-unless they are dealt with by the only One capable of truly calming a natural or emo- tional storm, Jesus Christ. In learning to deal with life's storms, we must turn to Jesus and dis- cover the provision that He makes for us when storms strike us. OUR RESPONSE TO THE STORM Let us keep in mind as we study Christ's provision that the nature of the storm is not at issue. The storm may be in a marriage, in health, in finances, in work, in a relationship with children. What we do in the aftermath of a storm, and especially to keep another storm from arising, is very important, and it relates to the nature of the storm. But while we are in a storm, its nature is not an important issue. A storm hits the whole of one's life. If you are having financial diffi- culties, such a storm will have a profound effect on your marriage and family life, your performance at work and in other areas, and ultimately, if the financial difficulty is not resolved, it may even impact your health. A storm in your marriage will impact your children, your finances, your work, and your health. Neither is the cause of the storm at issue. When you are in the midst of a storm, your primary concern is with survival. Pointing a finger at the person or circumstance that caused the storm is not a productive response. After the storm has passed, you may be wise to take a good, long, objective look at what caused the storm so that if at all possible, you can avoid or avert such a storm in the future. You may be wise to alter your relationship with a storm-causing person in some way, preferably to seek loving reconciliation and greater com- munication and understanding with that person. But during the storm itself, your concern is not going to be primarily with the cause of the storm. What is your concern in the midst of a storm? How_ can you survive the storm? How can you live through the situation or circumstancd How can you emerge from the storm? God's Word assures us that Jesus provides answers to these critical questions. One example of the way Jesus deals with those who are experiencing a storm is found in Matthew 14:22-34. We referred to this 116 Our Unmet Needs story in an earlier chapter, but in this chapter, I want you to focus on sev- eral different aspects of the story. Jesus had just finished a full day of tremendous ministry-preaching, teaching, and healing a great multitude of people who followed Him out into a desolate area. Before sending the people away, Jesus had multi- plied five loaves and two fish to feed the hungry crowd of five thousand men and their families. Then, no doubt in exhaustion, Jesus made His disciplesget into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes aw&IJ. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves,for the wind was contrary. (Matt. 14:22-24) In the fourth watch of the night, sometime between three and six o'clock in the early morning, Jesus went to His disciples who were strug- gling in the storm; He walked on the sea to them. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they cried out in their fear, "It is a ghost!" Here is how Matthew told the rest of this story: Immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, «Be ofgood cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.» And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, ifit is You, command me to come to You on the water.» So He said, «come.» And when Peter had come down out ofthe boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord,, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "0 you oflittle faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, «Truly You are the Son of God.» When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. (Matt. 14:27-34) The first thing that we are wise to recognize when a storm strikes is that Jesus is present with us in the storm, just as He was present for His disciples in this story. Jesus is present. He is with us at all times, in all cir- The Provision of His Presence 117 cumstances. There is never a single moment of your life in which Jesus is not there for you and with you. AWARENESS OF HIS PRESENCE Nothing can match the power of an awareness that Jesus is present. The presence of friends, advisers, and colleagues can never match the presence of Jesus. The disciples had been struggling all night without making any progress. Storms arose suddenly in the Galilee area. The winds came across the land from the Mediterranean Sea and then rushed down the steep valleys into the Sea of Galilee, beating the sea almost as if a giant hand mixer were lowered into the waters. The disciples had struggled against such a wind for at least nine hours and had gone a distance of only about five miles, no doubt fighting for every inch of progress they made to keep the boat from capsizing. Storms strike us quickly at times and often fiercely. We may feel as if there is no way out-;--everything becomes an intense struggle that seems overwhelming. A woman once said to me about the day that her husband told her he was filing for a divorce, "Everything began to spin. I felt as ifl was hang- ing on to the edge of a world that had gone out of control. For the next few weeks, it was all I could do to hang on. It was a tremendous effort just to get up and get my children off to school and go through the basic routines of what needed to be done in my life. Nothing else mattered- just getting through the day took all of my energy and strength." Emotional storms are often that violent and all-consuming. Jesus knows about storms. You can be assured that He knows every detail about the storm you are experiencing. He knows far more about the storm than you know or will ever know. Furthermore, He knew that His disciples were struggling and battling the storm with all their strength. He knew they were in one of those periods that no doubt seemed to them to be the fight of their lives. He knows how you strug- gle when you are in a storm. And Jesus' response was this: He came to them. Notice that He did not calm the storm from afar, although He could have done that. He had calmed a natural, physical storm on the Sea of 118 Our Unmet Needs Galilee at a previous time. This time, Jesus chose not to c~lm the storm as He had done before. Neither did Jesus ignore the storm, knowing in His sovereignty that the storm would eventually blow over without loss of life or property. Rather, Jesus knew that in this particular storm, the most important thing that His disciples could experience was an awareness ofHis presence. Note that I said not Jesus' presence, but an awareness ofHis presence. Jesus was just as much present with His disciples while He was up on the mountain in prayer as He was when He walked on the sea to them. They were never out of His sight or His concern. But the disciples were not aware that Jesus knew or cared about them. Their thoughts were not on Jesus, even though His focus was on them. Their thoughts were so much on· things other than Jesus that when Jesus appeared to them walking on the sea, they thought He was a ghost! They were frightened at the sight of Him. We are so like these disciples! We often fail to look for Jesus in the midst of our storms, and we fail to recognize Him when He comes. The likelihood is that Jesus may not come to you in precisely the way you expect Him to come. He may not come to you in a form that you quickly recognize. Probably the last thing on the earth that the disciples expected that night was to see Jesus walking on the water'to them, yet that is the way Jesus chose to reveal Himself to them. Jesus may come to you in a totally unexpected fashion. And if you are not aware that He is present with you or that He cares enough to come to you in your storm, your response to the Lord may be the same as that of the disciples: fear and lack of recognition. Let me give you a very practical example. A woman once told me of her reaction when her family physician said to her, "You have cancer." She said, "Dr. Stanley, it was as if my doctor had just thrown a black blan- ket offear over me. I could hardly think. My eyes wouldn't focus. My ears seemed to ring. I was so stunned I felt paralyzed, incapable of mov- ing. I didn't even hear the rest of what the doctor had to say, which was to tell me that he thought this cancer could be stopped with radiation treatments since it was in very early stages. If my daughter hadn't been with me during that appointment, I'm not sure I could have made it out of his office and to the car-I was that much in a fog. The Provision of His Presence 119 "The next week, I made my first visit to the radiologist that my physi- cian had recommended. I walked into his office and then into the radi- ology room filled with fear. What I hadn't expected at all was that this man might be a Christian, or that he might be aware of how I was feel- ing inside. I was completely surprised when he asked me, 'Are you afraid?' I admitted to him that I was fearful, ·not only of the cancer but also of the radiation. Then he said to me, 'I am a Christian, and I believe that prayer can help a person in times like these. Would it be all right with you ifl said a prayer for you?' I said, 'Most certainly.' He prayed a sweet but very powerful prayer and as he prayed, I could feel my body relax- ing. He took time to talk to me about both the cancer and the radiation treatments. I sensed that he truly cared about me, and I became more confident about what I was facing. "The next time I went to see him I was less afraid. I told him how much his prayer had meant to me, and he asked if we might pray together again before my second treatment. Of course I agreed! This happened each time I went for treatments-thirty-two in all. I tdl people now that I had thirty-two radiation treatments and thirty-two prayer treatments! "By the time I had my last treatment, I was almost sorry it was my last visit to see him-not that I wanted more radiation, mind you, but I had come to appreciate this man's prayers and his calm and reassuring faith. It was a few weeks later that the thought struck me, Why, that was Jesus coming to me through the form and skills ofthat radiologist! The love and power ofJesus in him gave me hope and eased my f ears. The presence ofJesus in him had become a part ofmy healing process!» I don't know the way in which Jesus will come to you in your storm, but I can say to you in full confidence: Jesus will come to you in the pre- cise way and form that you need Him the most. Trust Him to reveal Himself to you. He wants you to know that He is with you in the midst of the storm. FEELINGS OF TOTAL ASSURANCE Why is an awareness ofJesus' presence so important? When we become aware of Jesus with us, several things happen to us. Taken together, these things add up to total assurance. When we are aware that Jesus is with us, we immediately become comforted. 120 Our Unmet Needs Comforted. Each of us knows that when we are alone, it is much easier to feel fearful, but ifwe have even one friend with us in a time of trouble, we take comfort in his presence. Jesus is the Friend of friends. One of the terms given to the Holy Spirit is that of Comforter. When you are aware that Jesus is with you in your storm, you can't help being comforted by His presence. More courageous. We take courage that we can face what lies before us. Who comes to us in our storm? The King ofkings, the Lord oflords, the almighty, all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving Savior and Deliverer! With Jesus beside us, who can stand against us? We cannot help feeling more courageous when we are aware that Jesus is by our side. More confident. We become confident that God will see us through. Confidence is directly related to our knowing that a current trial or time of trouble will come to an end. When Jesus appears-throughout the Gospel books of the New Testament and in every instance we can cite in our lives today-He comes as Victor. The devil cannot remain where Jesus dwells. The enemy cannot succeed when Jesus arrives on the scene. Our confidence is no longer in ourselves to be able to survive, to endure, or to conquer; our confidence is in Jesus. Our confidence is based upon who Jesus is and what He will do for us, which always will be for our ulti- mate and eternal good. (See Rom. 8:28.) NO STORM CAN DRIVE JESUS AWAY An awareness ofJesus' presence also reminds us that no storm can sep- arate us from the Lord. No matter how fierce the storm rages or how powerful it seems to be against us, the storm cannot separate us from God's love, forgiveness, help, or promises. Paul wrote to the Romans, Who shall separate us.from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or dis- tress, or persecution, or famine1 or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor prin- cipalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shalt be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:35, 37-39) The Provision of His Presence 121 The truth of the Lord's ever-presence (omnipresence) comes to us each time we become aware that He is with us in a storm. Just before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus spoke to His disciples about His abiding presence with them. He said, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18). He promised them that He would send the Holy Spirit to them as their Helper. As Jesus spoke to His disciples after His resurrection, preparing them for His ascension to heaven, He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20). In the form of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with us at all times. He is always present in our lives, every minute of every hour of every day. How blessed we are to live in the time of the Holy Spirit! When Jesus was alive on the earth, He could not be in two places at one time. But now, Jesus is free of all constraints of time and space. By the power of the Holy Spirit, He is with each of those who believe in Him at all times. We never need to call for Jesus to show up. He is already present. We may have a sudden awareness of His presence, so much so that it feels as if He just showed up, but it is not a sudden coming of Jesus-rather, a sudden awareness on our part. ASK THE LORD TO REVEAL HIMSELF How might we become aware of Jesus' presence? By asking Him to reveal Himself to us. So often, we ask the wrong questions of the Lord. We say, "Where are You, God? Why don't You show up? Can't You see what's happening to me? Can't You see how I am struggling? Can't Y:ou see the pain I'm in?" The answer of the Lord, of course, is, "I'm right here with you. I know exactly what's going on!" Our question of the Lord should be, "What is keeping me from see- ing You? Help me to see You and to experience Your presence!" One of the most intense emotional storms described in the New Testament is that experienced by Mary and Martha, in the aftermath of their brother's death. Lazarus became sick, and Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick" (John 11:3). Jesus responded by saying, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it" (v. 4). 122 Our Unmet Needs Jesus stayed where He was for two more days, and then He said to His. disciples, "Let us go to Judea again... Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up" (vv. 7, 11). The disciples couldn't under- stand Jesus' reasoning since they knew it was dangerous for them to return to Judea, and they also figured that if Lazarus was sleeping, he was getting better. Jesus finally said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him" (vv. 14-15). Now on the surface it may appear that Jesus was not present or aware of Lazarus in that terrible storm of sickness. In truth, Jesus was very aware of all that was happening to His friend as well as what was hap- pening to Mary and Martha. He knew exactly the full plan and purpose of God in the storm they were experiencing. He knew the moment that Lazarus died. When Jesus arrived in Bethany, He found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days. Mourners who had filled the house of Martha and Mary were attempting to comfort them. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus had arrived on the scene, she ran out to meet Him, saying, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (v. 21). Even Martha, who knew Jesus so well, assumed that Jesus had not been present in their lives. She went on to make a great statement of faith, however, saying, "But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You" (v. 22). She didn't expect that Jesus would be able to ask or receive any- thing related to Lazarus, but her faith remained in Jesus that He was no less the Healer, Deliverer, and Savior. Martha and Mary might very well have talked to each other prior to Jesus' arrival and said, "Why hasn't Jesus come? Surely He loves us. He has been in our home. We have shared meals with Him, laughed with Him, heard Him teach. He knows how much we love Him, and we know He loves us. So where is He?" Those are the kinds of questions we ask today when we, as Christian believers, experie~ce storms. The real question, however, should be, "What is Your purpose in this, Lord? Why am I slow to see Your presence and to catch a glimpse ofYour plan?" Jesus did not respond directly to Martha's statements, but He spoke God's plan to her: "Your brother will rise again" (v. 23 ). Martha did not understand what He meant. She said, "I know that he will rise again in The Provision of His Presence 123 the resurrection at thelast day" (v. 24). Jesus then said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (vv. 25-26 ). Jesus went on to Lazarus's tomb and insisted that the stone be rolled away. He then prayed, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me" (vv. 41-42). He then cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" (v. 43). And Lazarus came walking out of that tomb, restored to life four days after his death. What was the message of Jesus to Martha and Mary and to all who experienced the evidence of that miracle? It is the simple message that Jesus is. Wherever Jesus is, there one finds the full operation of the full- ness ofJesus. We say, "Where were You, Jesus?" or we say, "When Jesus comes... " The fact is, Jesus is. God revealed Himself to Moses in precisely this way, saying, "IAM."(SeeEx. 3:14.)Jesusis. He is never going to be more your Savior, your Healer, your Deliverer, or your Lord than He is right now. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The fullness of who He is, is with you right now. There is no more of Jesus left to show up. All of Him is present with you. All of Him has been with you. And all of Him will continue to be with you. Jesus declared to Mary and Martha the truth that rings down through the generations to us, "I am the resurrection and the life." When we become aware of the presence of Jesus with us in a storm, we must become aware that Jesus is with us in the fullness of His power to be the resurrection and the life. No matter how battered, bruised, or even dead we may feel inside as the result of our struggle, Jesus is with us to raise us up into newness oflife. No matter how exhausted, broken, or devas- tated we may feel, Jesus is present with us to restore us, heal us, and energize us. He always comes to give us life and to give us life more abundantly (John 10: 10). His very presence with us infuses life into our being. WHY NOT AN AWARENESS OF CHRIST JESUS SOONERf Why doesn't Jesus reveal Himself to us sooner than later? Why wait 124 Our Unmet Needs until the disciples were weary from rowing all night against a contrary wind? Why wait until Lazarus had been in the tomb four days? Because then the disciples were ready to become aware ofJesus. Then Mary and Martha, as well as the disciples, were ready to experience the great mir- acle that confirmed Jesus as Messiah and gave evidence that Jesus would rise from His own death and be the resurrection for all who believe in Him. The "late'' appearing ofJesus was not a lack ofJesus' presence but an appearance ofJesus in such a way and in the fullness ohime so that those in need-the disciples, and Mary and Martha-might truly become aware of His presence. If you are not experiencing the full presence ofJesus in your storm or time of trouble, ask the Lord' to show you what is keeping you from experiencing His full and immediate presence. Ask Him to show you what He desires for you to recognize, learn, or experience as part of your having an awareness of His presence. THE SAMARITAN SENT TO YOU It is also important that you ask the Lord to help you recognize every person He sends to help you. Just as the Lord sent a Christian radiolo- gist to help the woman whose story is told earlier in this chapter, so Jesus may send you very precise help in the form of a specific person. Don't miss that messenger of God's love and mercy! Jesus told a story about a person who experienced a severe storm in his life. While on the road that led down to Jericho from Jerusalem, the man was beaten, robbed, and left for dead. Two men passed by without offering assistance to the injured man, and then, Jesus said, a man from Samaria spotted him, stopped, assisted him, and took him to a safe shel- ter in Jericho where he paid for the injured man's lodging and further medical help. Jesus asked those who heard this story, "Which of these three do you think was 'neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" The people quickly replied, "He who showed mercy on him." Jesus then said, "Go and do likewise." (See Luke 10:30-37.) How many times has Jesus come to you in the form of a good Samaritan-someone who rescued you, ministered to you, cared for you, gave practical assistance to you, and looked out for your best interests? How many times have you been the recipient of someone's unrequested The Provision of His Presence 125 kindness? Have you seen Jesus at work in that experience or incident? Have you been aware that Jesus is the One who was behind the scenes all the time, ministering to you through that person, very much present in your time of need? One reason you are not aware ofJesus' presence is that you have not asked Jesus just who He is using to bring about God's perfect plan and purpose in your life. It may be a person you never would have sus- pected. A DIRECT REVELATION OF HIS PRESENCE Many times, Jesus may not even use a person to make you aware of His presence. He may speak to you directly through a vision, through a message that someone preaches to you, or through the Word of God as you read it. I once heard about a minister who was pastoring two small churches, preaching in each church every other Sunday. He was weary from the constant travel and the many needs that he saw in each of his small, rural congregations. He was struggling to do his best and remain encouraged in the Lord. He began to doubt his ability to minister adequately to the people. He walked into his pastor's study on Monday morning and noticed that a Bible lay open on his desk. Thinking that perhaps he had left it open there on Saturday afternoon, he closed it and shelved it. The fol- lowing Monday, the Bible was again open on his desk. He stopped to read the two pages that were open. Part of what he read was Luke 9 :62. The words just seemed to leap off the page to him: "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." He immediately fell to his knees, asking the Lord to forgive liim for doubting the Lord's call on his life and for failing to rely completely on the Lord for the ability to minister to the people. The next Monday morning, the Bible again lay open. The minister had no secretary, and as far as he knew, nobody in the church had a key to his private office. Yet Monday morning after Monday morning, his Bible was open on his desk when he walked into his office. Each Monday, words seemed to leap off the pages to him, encouraging him in his min- istry and building him up in his faith. 126 Our Unmet Needs Finally the preacher asked the Lord to reveal to him who was minis- tering to him in such a profound way so that he might thank the person. The Lord brought to mind the janitor who cleaned up the church after the Sunday morning service. Sure enough, the man had a key that gave him entrance to all areas of the church, including the pastor's study. The preacher went to call upon the man. He said, "Thank you for leaving the open Bible for me to read each Monday. You'll never know how much the Lord has used these passages of Scripture to help me and to build me up so that I can do the job He has called me to do.,, The man seemed a little puzzled. "Aren't you the one who has been giving me these verses to read?" the pastor asked. The man replied, "No, sir. Wish I was. But you see, Preacher, I can't read. It seems every time I go into your study, though, there's your Bible lying facedown on the floor. I thought you were dropping it on purpose for me to read. So I picked it up real careful like and laid it on your desk to the open part, thinking maybe you'd make a sermon of what was there so I could get the message from the pulpit, seeing as I couldn't read the pages for myself. And sure enough, it seems like you've been preaching right to me these past couple of months." The preacher never discovered who or what had caused his study Bible to tumble to the floor each week. The cause didn't really matter. What mattered was that the preacher chose to see Jesus in the pages of the Bible that lay open before him, and then to share the Jesus of the Bible with others. He could have dismissed what was happening as coincidence or something very mysterious-not unlike the disciples thinking they were seeing a ghost. Rather, the preacher chose to see Jesus at work. He saw Jesus using an unusual situation in which to reveal Himself and to make the preacher aware of His presence. As you read the Bible, look for Jesus to speak to you directly and inti- mately with a message that you know is just for you in the midst of your storm. What is Jesus doing in the passage that He brings to your mind or seems to highlight on the pages you are reading in your Bible? Jesus desires to do that same work or to teach you that same lesson in your life, even in the midst of the storm. He is there with you. Receive His com- forting presence! The Provision of His Presence 12 7 Jesus witt show Himself to you. If you are eager to experience His presence, He will enable you to experience Him. He is already present. Ask Him for spiritual eyes to see Him at work, and spiritual ears to hear His words to you. · 10 · Facing the Error That Created the Need ~"I wish I hadn't done that." \__.,~ "I wish I hadn't made that decision." "I wish I hadn't gone there." "I wish I had never agreed to that." "I wish I had never met that person." "I wish I had never touched that." "I wish I had never experienced that." Do you look back over your life and make any of these statements? If so, you very likely have experienced some type of emotional wound, one that may be marked by ongoing regret, guilt, or feelings of shame. Adam and Eve were certainly in a position to say as well, "I wish I had never... " Never listened to a lie. Never bought into a lie. Never began to imagine the possibility of sin. Never questioned the goodness of God. Never sought a substitute for a relationship with God. Never yielded to temptation. Never pursued sin. Adam might very well have expressed the responses that are often heard from victims: "I wish I had never been in association with that per- son... I wish I had never given in to that person... I wish I had never allowed that person to treat me that way." 129 130 Our Unmet Needs "I wish I never had» is a good indicator that emotional and spiritual wounding has occurred. It is a statement that also admits the person knew in some way, at some level, that an error was being made against God's perfect plan and God's absolute commandments. "I wish I never had" is a statement that admits, "I willfully acted in error," or "I willfully failed to act and that produced an error." If you can look back over your life and say, "I wish I never had," then I invite you to go to God with that very issue or experience and say to God, "Please forgive me for that mistake. Please heal me of that wound. Please help me never to make that error again. Please give me the courage and boldness to live my life fully trusting You and obeying You." TEMPTATION LEADS TO ERROR Temptation by the enemy of your soul always leads to error, which in turn leads to need. Ifyou trace a need to an error that you have made in the past, you can also trace that error all the way back to a temptation to do evil. What exactly is temptation? It is an enticement to get a legitimate need met apart from God's will or outside God's boundaries. Satan will always begin his temptations by presenting to us something that is a legitimate need in our lives. For example, a person may have a deep feeling of anxiety, frustration, or unrest. Such a person has a need for peace. Satan will hold up that need before a person night and day. His method, however, for meeting that need is not going to be to say to the person, "Now, you turn to God and trust Him." Hardly. Satan is going to whisper, "Ifyou'll only take these pills, you will relax and feel no pain and you will have peace," or "Ifyou'll only have a couple of drinks, you'll feel a lot more peaceful," or "If you could just purchase this particular item, you'll have greater self-esteem and in that you'll be more at peace with yourself." We must recognize that the needs associated with Satan's temptations are legitimate and real. We must not deny the existence of these needs or discount them as being unimportant, illegitimate, or unworthy. Where Satan leads us astray is not in calling our attention to our needs-cer- tainly some of us ought to identify our needs in a straightforward way Facing the Error That Created the Need 131 and recognize them as needs we should address-but in offering certain methods for meeting our needs. Some people feel guilty for having needs. That is false guilt. Needs are needs. Many are natural by-products of our humanity or our human error. Some are placed into our lives by God so that He might bring about in us a particular refinement or greater strength. Some are needs that are foisted upon us by the circumstances of a fallen world. Needs are legitimate, and all of our needs are worthy of bringing to Christ so that He might meet them. Don't feel guilty for having needs. Guilt arises-and should arise-when we attempt to meet our needs by our manipulation or efforts rather than by trust in God. We err when we turn to Satan's illicit methods to meet legitimate needs. You must make this distinction. The fault lies not in having needs but in attempting to meet them apart from God's plan and purposes. All temptation is an enticement to act independently of God. When we do, we get ourselves into trouble every time. There is never a way that is better than God's way. No way apart from God is a way that leads to satisfaction, fulfillment, or any good benefit. We have not been created so that we can violate the principles of God's plan and still live productive, joyful, and effective lives. UNDERSTANDING How TEMPTATION WORKS In Genesis 3, we find perhaps the most famous, compelling, and significant illustration of temptation in the entire Bible. God had placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and He had given them very explicit and absolute instructions about what they were to do there. Nothing was hazy, fuzzy, or questionable about God's instruc· tions. Adam was to give names to every creature that the Lord brought to him. Giving a name to something meant much more than just call· ing a creature an elephant or a giraffe. To name something, especially in the Bible understanding of"to name," meant to have a complete under· standing of that creature and to exert authority over it. Adam's job was to understand creation fully. He was to be fully aware of all of the characteristics and attributes of every creature and to under· stand how the creatures functioned in relationship with one another. The purpose for all of that was management. Adam had been given a job of 132 Our Unmet Needs having "dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Gen. 1:26). To have dominion doesn't just mean to be smarter than or to have more power than. It means also to under- stand, to manage, to control, to maintain, to use. What a tremendous job that was-and is. Man was to be the caretaker of all God's creation, and not only to maintain it as it was given to man, but to use the creatures of the world in order to "subdue'' the earth and to replenish it. Eve was created to help Adam fully in that awesome responsibility before God. She was to be one with him in purpose and in flesh. Together, Adam and Eve had the privilege of a walking-and-talking relationship with almighty God, their Creator. They were to undertake their great responsibility with God. God had created them for fellowship with Himself. He desired to communicate with Adam and Eve, laugh with them, delight with them in their discovery of His creation, and counsel them in their exploration and use of the work of His hands. Our purpose today on this earth is no different from that ofAdam and Eve. God has given each ofus something that lies in front of us to do that is part of His divine command to have dominion over this earth, to subdue evil, and to bring about the fulfillment ofHis plan and purposes. God has called each of us to Himself so that we might talk with Him and walk with Him in daily intimacy. God has prepared others to walk along- side us for human fellowship and assistance. If anyone ever asks you, "Why am I here? Why did God create me?" I hope you have an answer for that person. Perhaps you have asked these questions yourself The answer at its most basic level is threefold: l. You were created for an intimate fellowship with God and to have daily communication with Him. 2. You were created to overcome evil and establish God's goodness on this earth. You were created to be an agent of good. 3. You were created to have close relationships with others so that you might have companionship, friendship, and assistance as you praise and worship God and do the work God has put before you to do. Apart from these three major purposes on this earth, God may have specific things for you to do that are directly related to your specific tal- ents, abilities, capacities, propensities, capabilities, and dreams. Every Facing the Error That Created the Need 133 person has been given one or more talents to use in the fulfillment of his purpose in life. But we are to use these talents within the confines of our greater purpose. We are to use our talents to praise and worship God, to establish God's dominion on this earth through the subduing of evil, and to help others as they praise and worship God or take dominion over the creatures of this earth. In addition to talents, Adam and Eve were given resources. God made total provision for the external needs of Adam and Eve. He gave them "every green herb for food" and a continual supply of fresh air and fresh. water ( Gen. 1 :30). God had created literally thousands upon thousands of good food sources for Adam and Eve, and He had given them water in abundance-four rivers flowed from the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10-14)! All they needed was provided for them in ample supply so that they might fulfill their God-given purpose on the earth. Furthermore, God gave Adam and Eve access to Himself. He was present with them daily. For example, Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord walking in the Garden in the cool of the day ( Gen. 3:8). It was not an unexpected or unanticipated visit by God to the Garden. It was a part of His routine with Adam and Eve. He had fel- lowship with them every evening; they talked things over and enjoyed one another in close friendship. You may recall that throughout the creation story we read, "The evening and the morning were the first day... , the evening and the morning were the second day... , the evening and the morning were the third day," and so forth. From the Bible's standpoint, a new day begins in the evening. We in the Western world think in terms of a day beginning at sunrise, but in the Bible, a day begins at sunset, with rest and fellowship with God, with planning and anticipating the night and day that lie ahead. When God came to Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening, He was coming to "sit a spell" with them, reflect on the day that was past, and anticipate with them what they would be doing during the coming day. And just as God had noted at the end of each day of creation, "And God saw that it was good," so we can assume that on every day after creation, when God came to walk and talk with Adam and Eve, He came to the conclusion about them and about their efforts, "God saw that it was good." God was the total inner provision for Adam and Eve: He was the One 134 Our Unmet Needs to whom they looked for wisdom, encouragement, and love. He was the fulfillment for all of their inner needs ofsatisfaction, peace, harmony, and purpose. His plan was their plan. His presence was their source ofsolace and courage and energy. He was their total source of supply for all of the needs they might have had spiritually, emotionally, mentally, or psycho- logically. And when God sensed in Adam a need for a helpmate, God created Eve expressly for him. God met Adam's need for human relationship fully and completely. (See Gen. 2:21-23.) What God gave to Adam and Eve, He also gives to us. God has made available in Himself all that we need for our spiritual, emotional, psy- chological, and mental needs to be met. He has given us human beings to be our friends-and for most of us, a human being to be a spouse-so that our needs for relationship, fellowship, communication, and assis- tance might be met. God has provided all that we need in terms of sus- tenance so that we will have the energy ~nd ability to fulfill our purpose on this earth. Food and water refer not only to the physical need that we have for food and water, but also to our total need for energy and ability to live and to engage in productive work according to God's purposes. For some, that work might be raising children or engaging in ministry. For others, it might be sitting at a desk in an office or digging a trench or driving a tractor or working in a factory. In whatever area our talents and desires lie, God has already created ample provision for us to be able to do our work productively and efficiently. There is absolutely no doubt about either God's plan or God's pro- vision in the first three chapters of Genesis. Goo's INSTRUCTIONS ARE VERY CLEAR In addition to telling Adam and Eve very plainly what they were to do, God told them very plainly what they were not to do: "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but Qfthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat ofit you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17). It's amazing that of all the things that God could have set as limita- tions, He chose only this one thing-this one tree, this one aspect of life-as being prohibited to Adam and Eve. Facing the Error That Created the Need 135 Let's take a closer look at this one forbidden tree. It is the tree that produces knowledge of good and evil. God wanted Adam and Eve to have full knowledge of what was good. Everything God had created for them was good, and expressly called good by the Lord. Everything that Adam and Eve did prior to the Fall was counted by God as good. We don't know how long Adam and Eve lived before they disobeyed God, but they very likely enjoyed many, many years of goodness before they sinned. They had a great understanding or knowledge of good. So what did God not want them to know? Evill Goa did not want there to be any means of contrast to good in their lives. He did not want them to know the influence of evil, the impact of evil, or the conse- quences of evil. God said to them, "In the day that you eat ofit you shall surely die." "But," you may say, "Adam and Eve didn't die on the day they ate of the tree." Not physically, although the physical decay and death of their bodies began on that day. What died when they ate of the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil"? Their innocence. Their perfection. Their harmony with ea.ch other. Their deep intimacy with God. Their perfect environment. Oh, what a loss! What a death! In many ways, the death was much more severe than physical death. It was a living death that resulted in a daily awareness that Adam and Eve were sus- pended between the forces of right and wrong, good and evil. Every day, every decision, and every relationship suddenly had the capacity for evil. Adam and Eve were separated from God. They had never known a need for God before. Now they knew that need. Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden into a world of thorns and thistles. Adam was told, "You shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat ofyour face you shall eat bread" (Gen. 3:18-19). Adam had never needed to work hard in a world of pain and obstacles. Now he had that need to provide, a need that involved struggle and hardship. And yet God had made it very clear to them from the beginning the consequences of knowing evil. God makes this very same commandment to refrain from knowing evil to us. As Hts children, born again through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we are told repeatedly in God's Word to turn from evil and to pursue what is good in God's eyes: 136 Our Unmet Needs Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil withgood. (Rom. 12:21) For the wages ofsin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23) Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD; Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned. (Lam. 3:40-42) Return to Me... Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds. (Zech. 1:3-4) Shun profane and idle babblings,for they will increase to more ungodli- ness. (2 Tim. 2:16) The Lord holds out a great reward for·those who fulfill His good purposes: "Glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is. good" (Rom. 2:10). Jesus taught that those who work evil will have no reward: You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn· bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, everygood tree bearsgood fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not beargood fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you wW know them. (Matt. 7:16-20) Let's pause now and regain a perspective of the bigger picture. God gave Adam and Eve His presence, each other, and total material and nat ural provision with one stipulation: do not engage in what will result in your knowing evil and experiencing its deadly consequences. God gives us as His children today His presence through the Holy Spirit, one another in the form of the body of Christ ( the church as a whole), and a promise of total material and natural provision with one Facing the Error That Created the Need 137 stipulation: do not engage in what will result in your knowing evil and experiencing its deadly consequences. We are to be aware of evil and to avoid it. We arc to be wise to the tac- tics of Satan to tempt us to engage in evil, and we arc to be bold in say- ing no to him. THE NATURE OF THE TEMPTER The Bible tells us, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made" (Gen. 3:1). I want you to notice four things about the tempter Satan. First, the tempter is not equal to God. God made Satan. He is a crea- ture-a rebellious, fallen creature, but always a creature. Too many people seem to believe that God and Satan arc on equal footing and of equal stature-the force of good and God on one side, the force of evil and Satan on the other side in a fierce tug-of-war. This in itsclfis a lie of Satan, exalting himself to such a position. Satan is finite. God made him. He is subject to God's authority even now. He exists solely because God has a reason for him to exist. He is not equal to God, never has been, and never will be, although he continually aspires to the position that he will never attain. Second, the tempter is «cunning.» Satan is smart. He has knowledge that is born of the ages in which he has existed. He knows what heaven is like, and he knows all about how the earth and its creatures were made. He has knowledge about you that you don't even have about yourself. He is a master of disguise and of clever manipulation. His roar is more fierce than that of a lion. His ability to blend in with his surroundings is better than that ofa chameleon. His subtlety in stalking is greater than that of a cat about to pounce on a mouse. His ability to spin a web is greater than that of a spider. His ability to disappear quickly is greater than that of a panther. He is the most cunning of all creatures. He is the master of lies and manipulation. Third, the tempter is always relentless. He came to Jesus three times in the wilderness. He comes repeatedly to those who are serving God. We do not know how often or how many times Satan came to Eve with his temptations, but we can assume that his temptation was intense and insistent. He never gives up. He comes again and again with the same old 138 Our Unmet Needs lies, attempting to wear us out and wear us down until we do his bidding. He is a stalker. Neither do we know how much time elapsed between the time Eve first listened to Satan and the time she ate of the fruit. Eve might have pon- dered the situation for a few minutes or a few years. We also do not know how long it took for Eve to convince Adam to eat of the fruit. There is nothing in the Bible that says Adam took a second bite out of the same piece offruit. For all we know, Eve might have been eating of the fruit for some time before she finally convinced Adam to join her in eating it. Why do I stress these points? Because we see similar behavior in our world today. One person will say to another person, "I tried that and nothing bad happened to me. In fact, I've tried that several times and I'm still all right." Or a person might say, "I've been doing this for years, and I've suffered no ill effects." Adam had no initial desire to eat of the fruit. He might have had his own encounters with Satan and resisted them each time. But in the end, Adam gave in to peer pressure. The results are just as deadly. I don't care whether Satan whispered into your ear the idea to sin or whether another ~uman being talked you into sinning; the result is the same. And in the end, God does not accept the excuse, "That person made me do it," or "The devil made me do it." Each of us has will, and each has the ability to say no to what is wrong before God. (See Gen. 3:12-13.) Fourth, the tempter is a formidable Joe. Never take Satan lightly. Although he is a limited creation of God, he still is a formidable foe. You are no match for him in your own strength. Only as you rely on Jesus Christ, who is vic- tor over Satan, can you stand strong and say with boldness, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). THE TACTICS OF THE ENEMY We are always wise to become experts on the tactics that our enemies use, especially the tactics of the devil. Notice the tactics of this cunning deceiver in speaking to Eve: And he [the serpent] said to the woman, crHas God indeed said, 'You shall not eat oferiery tree ofthe garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, Facing the Error That Created the Need 139 «we may eat the fruit ofthe trees ofthe garden; but ofthe fruit ofthe tree which is in the midst ofthegarden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" (Gen. 3:1-3) INTRODUCING DOUBT Satan introduced doubt. That is his number one tactic. He comes to each ofus, saying, "Has God indeed said... ?" If he can snare us with doubt, he has us quickly and immediately. And so many people capitu- late at this very point. They cave in to doubt. They don't know enough about the Word of God to stand strong and say, "Listen, Satan, this is what God has indeed said!" Eve, however, was not ignorant of God's word. She did not give in to Satan at the introduction ofdoubt. Eve responded with a clear statement of God's instructions. What I want you to notice is that Eve knew and understood precisely what she was not to do. She did not act out ofigno- rance or confusion. She was not mixed up. She knew the rule and its con- sequence. Note what Satan said next. Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat ofit your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" ( Gen. 3:4-5). DISCREDITING GOD Satan turned up the heat a notch. He implied that God withheld something good from Eve. He called something good that God called evil. He said, in effect, "God is holding out on you. He has something good that He hasn't given to you. He knows that if you eat of this tree, you will be just like God-you will have complete knowledge." Satan tempted Eve by saying, "You are going to experience something you have never experienced before, and you are really going to like it. It's going to be great! It's going to make you more powerful, more spiritual, more fulfilled than anything else you've known thus far." Satan accused God of being unfair, punitive, and unjust. Satan cast doubt about the very nature of God. Satan also discounted or cast doubt upon the consequence God stated about eating from the tree. Even as he held out the allure of a "good" thing, he said to Eve, "You will not surely die." 140 Our Unmet Needs EXALTING THE INDIVIDUAL The temptation to Eve was highly personal and filled with flattery. The tempter put her on a plane equal to God. He exalted her position. I want you to note the number of times in Genesis 3:4-5 the word you is used. I've highlighted them here: Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat ofit your eyes wilt be opened, and you will be like God, knowinggood and evil.» The implication of the tempter was this: "Others may not be able to handle this, others may not be ready for it, others may not benefit from it, others may not like it, others may not be mature enough for this, but you are. You are the exception. You are special. You don't have to obey this commandment of God. Adam may have to for the time being, but you are ready for this. The law of God doesn't apply to you." How many people attempt to convince themselves that they are above both man's law and God's law? They have bought into the notion that for whatever reason-perhaps their social status, their parentage, their wealth, their good looks, their past blessings from God, their position, their rank or role in society-they don't have to play by the same rules as everybody else. They have come to see them- selves as stronger, smarter, special, or in some way set apart from the masses to what God has said is good and true for virtually everybody else, but not for them. RELYING ON THE SAME TACTICS You would think that after thousands of years of Satan coming to every man and woman with the same lies, the same tactics, we would eventually catch on to him and have the ability to see the lies for what they are. And yet men and women are still experiencing needs, and they are still listening to Satan say, "I have just the answer. You desire a little more wisdom? I have just the thing for you. It won't harm you at all to try it. You feel the need for sex? I have just the partner for you. No harm will come to you. You feel the need for greater status? I have just the means for you to get it-no negative side effects. You feel the need for Facing the Error That Created the Need 141 a little more relaxation, fun, and an ease to the tension you feel? I have just the thing for you to try-the things you've heard about it aren't true for you." The tactics are always the same-not just in Eve's case, but in our lives every day. Satan does several things very consistently: Satan always attempts to cast doubt on the truth of God's Word. He twists and warps the truth of God's commandments, God's love, and God's mercy at every possible opportunity. Satan always attempts to instill doubt about the goodness of God- His fairness, mercy, love, and righteousness. Satan paints an inac- curate portrait of God. He paints a picture in which God is harsh, judgmental and punitive, without mercy, compassion, or loving forgiveness. If Satan cannot get a person to doubt God's com- mandments, he will attempt to instill doubt about the nature of God. Satan always attempts to downplay significantly any and all conse- quences associated with sin, rebellion, or disobedience. Satan always paints a picture for us of pleasure, success, and well- being. He holds out the promise of something that will make us more than what we presently are-more rich, more beautiful, more acceptable, more fulfilled, more excited, more exhilarated, more fun, more peaceful, more happy, more satisfied, more appreciated, more valued, more loved. Satan's great lie is, "I can show you the way to more than God offers you." The implication is always that God is withholding from you something that you deserve or need, or that is rightfully yours. Satan always tries to get us to believe that in some way we are above the law or that we arc not prone to the consequences that others will experience. These are the big lies in Satan's arsenal oflies. And like Eve, many of us fall victim to these lies even though we know the truth of God's Word. Knowing the truth and believing the truth-or believing the truth and applying it appropriately to our lives-arc vastly different things. 142 Our Unmet Needs THE Two MAIN ERRORS WE MAKE Notice the twofold error that Eve made. First, she listened to Satan. She engaged in conversation with him. She gave him her attention. The number one way to avoid giving in to temptation is to turn away from Satan the moment he whispers something you know to be a lie. Eve knew that Satan's initial statement was contrary to God's word, but still, she continued to converse with him. The time to withstand temptation is the moment it comes. Recognize the lie and turn away from the liar. Second, Eve began to take a second look at the tree and its fruit. The Bible says that she "saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleas- ant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise" (Gen. 3:6). Now what did that mean in the bigger picture? Eve began to reason within herself, This is possible. The fruit was there. It was ripe for the plucking. She could do it. Many people I know have absolutely no trouble withstanding alcohol or drugs as long as these things are far removed from them. But the minute a drink is placed in front of them or drugs are offered to them and it becomes possible for them to reach out and take hold of what has been made readily available to them, they yield to the idea. A man confessed to me, "I never gave a second thought to having an affair with my boss's secretary until I found myself alone with her at din- ner one night. Suddenly there she was. All of the others in the group that had gone to dinner got up and left. She became a possibility for conver- sation, affection, and relationship for the first time." That's how most sins begin-in the realm ofwhat becomes possible or what we make possible. Eve also saw that there was something attractive in the fruit. She saw beauty in it-superficial beauty, but beauty and attraction nonetheless. It was pleasant to her eyes. She looked at the fruit enough to convince herself, This looks good. This looks fun. This looks interesting. This looks intriguing. This looks like something that might be delightful to experience. Not only was the fruit possible to attain, but it captured her curiosity. She began to think, I wonder what this will taste like and feel like? It looks good on the outside. Let me explore further. The fruit moved from being possible to being promising. And then Eve saw potential in the fruit. Not only possible for food and promising in its allure, but with a potential for a good consequence. Facing the Error That Created the Need 143 Very specifically Eve saw the fruit as being "desirable to make one wise." Wisdom-a good thing. Wrong method, wrong fruit, wrong path, but Eve justified all that by seeing that the end result might be worthy. The end began to justify the means. After all, Eve reasoned, God desired for her to be wise. 0 h, how many people follow this same line of twisted reasoning today. "God desires for me to have my needs met and I need money, so it doesn't really matter ifl cheat a little here and there, borrow a little I shouldn't borrow from this source and that, shortchange my employer or my customer just a little, all in the name of a bigger profit margin. It doesn't matter if the employees suffer as long as the stockholders are happy and the company shows financial growth. In the end, my needs will be met." Or a person might say, "I know God desires for me to be with some- one who truly loves me. My spouse doesn't seem to understand me or show affection to me. This other person seems to understand. This other person is affectionate toward me. I'll just spend a little more time with this person in order to get this need for understanding and love met in my life. I won't leave my spouse. In fact, I'll make sure my spouse never knows-and even so my need will be met. Surely God doesn't want me to go without someone who truly values me." And so it goes. Eve's rebellion was calculated and measured. She knew she was acting in disobedience to God, but she convinced herself that her rebellion would be valuable to her in the end. Potential for good and promise of pleasure are very powerful when they are linked to possibility. BYPASSING Goo TO GET WHAT WE WANT Eve perceived that the fruit would give her an edge-that it would make her wise, more knowledgeable, smarter, more experienced, more enlightened, more capable. We must recognize that Eve did not eat first and then discover that the fruit made her wise. To the contrary, she con- cluded that the fruit would give her God's wisdom before she ever took a bite.. Eve was bypassing God. God had all the wisdom Eve ever needed, and God was entirely willing to impart to Eve the answer to every question she could ever ask. God put no limits on the wisdom that He made 144 Our Unmet Needs available to Eve. He never once told her, or Adam, that they could be only so wise, so satisfied, so fulfilled. There was no degree established on what God had offered to them of Himself. Eve saw the fruit as an alternative path to God Himself. She saw the fruit as a way to wisdom apart from her relationship with God. How many times do we face that temptation in our lives? How preva- lent is this lie in our world today? How many people truly believe in their hearts that they can become wise without God, rich without God, joyful without God, satisfied without God? How many people have bought the lie that they can experience peace and inner satisfaction without a rela- tionship with God? How many methods have been concocted in an attempt to meet needs totally apart from God's presence? Eve intended to meet her own need for wisdom in her own way in her own timing. She was taking her life into her own hands. She had not consulted God or even factored God into her decision. And neither does any person who gives in to Satan's temptation. Every person who yields to the allure of sin has concluded at some level, "I don't need to talk this over with God. I can do this on my own. I can make my own judgments, my own decisions, my own evaluations. I can know what is best for me- not only now but in the future. I am capable of determining what will be for my good." Surely if Eve had bought in to the lie that God was withholding things from her, there is no end to what she might have imagined was being withheld. Eve had convinced herself that God had been withholding something interesting that would make her wise. It is no great leap to conclude that God might have been holding something that would make her more healthy, more wealthy, more interesting to Adam, more sexu- ally appealing, more vivacious, more valuable. It wouldn't take much for Eve to imagine that God might have a whole world outside the Garden of Eden that would be interesting for her to explore and experience. Was God withholding that from her? We do precisely the same thing when we assume a "God is keeping something from me" perspective. We question within ourselves, What fun is God withholding from mel What relationships and experiences am I being denied? What material blessings is God keeping from me? The truth is that God is not keeping anything from you that is for your good. Anything that is for your eternal good, God makes available Facing the Error That Created the Need 145 to you. James wrote, "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father oflights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:16-17). God is the source of all truly good things. What the Father gives us is for our perfection. He does not play favorites. He does not hold out something to us and then snatch it back at the last minute. God does not play games with His blessings or His rewards. God may withhold some things from us at a particular time or in a particular season of our lives in order to work out something in our char- acters or in our spiritual development, but ultimately everything our hearts truly desire is possible for us to experience and to attain. It is a lie of Satan that God has a vast storehouse of both internal and external blessings that is locked and inaccessible to us. THE ALLURE OF THINKING WE CAN HANDLE IT When we have a general feeling of neediness in our lives-an inner restlessness, frustration, dissatisfaction-too often we begin to reason, "Something out there will satisfy this longing in my heart. I just can't see it right now. I sense that it is there, but I don't quite know what it is." We search for the missing element according to our reasoning and intu- ition. Some people even justify this behavior to themselves by saying, "Well, God gave me a good mind, so surely He expects me to figure this out. God gave me common sense, so I will follow my nose and see where it leads me." To a certain extent, that was what Eve did. She might very well have reasoned, "God gave me the insight to see this tree for what it is. I was immature before, but now I am mature. I now have the good sense to know that this won't harm me. It is something that will benefit me. It will energize me, enlighten me, empower me." Too many people seem to reason within themselves, "Well, this might have been wrong for me when I was a child or a teenager, but now that I'm an adult, I can engage in this behavior. Surely it is accept- able now." Or they say to themselves, "Only a person who is very naive and very innocent hasn't experienced this. Surely God doesn't expect me to be_ a stupid person whom others might ridicule or look down 146 Our Unmet Needs upon. I need to have this experience, so I can say, 'I tried that and it didn't work."' A man told me that he had experimented with drugs as a teenager after having followed precisely that line of reasoning. AJl of his friends were making fun of him for not having smoked marijuana, so he finally smoked a joint of marijuana, telling himself all the time, "Now I can say to my friends, 'I tried pot and I didn't see any big deal in it. Jesus is more satisfying."' The trouble was, the marijuana temporarily was very pleas- ing to his senses. He liked the high that he felt. The second time mari- juana was offered to him he sa.ld, "Well, maybe I didn't give pot a good try the first time. Maybe there's more to it than I experienced ·that first time. I should know the full effects of this before I tell my friends that it's a waste of time and money." The trouble with that line ofreasoning was that there was no sure out for the young man. There never is. The justification that he used for try- ing marijuana became the same justification that he used for trying cocaine and a wide variety of pills and substances. "I'll just try it, and then out of my experience with it, I'll tell others not to do it or tell them the negative side effects." I have met a few Christians who seem to think that they need to expe- rience some sin in their lives in order to have a more dramatic testimony about God's power to deliver from sin. This is a twisted, warped line of reasoning, but there are those who buy into the lie, "Those who sin have a more powerful witness about God's delivering and saving power." The truth is, those who do not sin have the more potent witness. Theirs is a testimony that assures the unbeliever that God truly can keep people from sinning once they trust Him with their lives. What hope is there for the people who are not born again to think that they will continue to be in the grip of sin after they accept Jesus Christ, but that Jesus will bail them out repeatedly when they sin? There is so much more hope and comfort in the truth that once people are born again, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit can help them keep from sinning and therefore keep them from ever experiencing the negative consequences of sin. Eve believed that in some strange way, she was doing the mature thing for herself in acting by herself. She had determined that her indepen- dence from God was a good thing, a noble attribute, and even some- Facing the Error That Created the Need 147 thing that GGd might have desired or planned for her all along. Nothing could have been farther from the truth for her, and nothing is farther from the truth for us. God desires that we depend upon Him and trust Him for all things. The deeper the relationship a person has with God, the more reliant that person will be upon the Father for all provision, all wisdom, all esteem, all love, all security. THE CRASHING REALITY OF SIN In the end, Satan was wrong. Absolutely and completely wrong. Adam and Eve did die. God's word was absolute. God was not keeping anything good from Eve and Adam. The end did not justify the means. The fruit was not beneficial to mankind. Adam and Eve were not above the requirement of obedience. Eve was absolutely and completely wrong in her reasoning. The fruit was not suitable food for her, however available it might have been. The fruit was not pleasant in its effects, even though it might have been beau- tiful in its appearance. The fruit did not make her wise or in any other way bring benefit to her. Adam was wrong too. Absolutely and completely wrong. Just because someone he loved, trusted, and counted as his own flesh had partaken of something God had forbidden, he did not need to partake ofit. Adam and Eve lost everything in their false assumption that life after disobedience to God's command could possibly be better than life before disobedience. Friend, God will never allow any choice we make for our security or provision to replace Himself. He made Himself to be our source of total supply and identity. Nothing else will ever replace Him. God alone is eternal. Nothing else we may choose in God's place will last into eternity. God alone is all-loving. No one else we may choose will love us as vastly or as unconditionally as our heavenly Father. God alone is omniscient. No one else can know us as completely as God knows us or can see into the past and the future with the clarity that God sees. 148 Our Unmet Needs God alone is always present. Every other person we may choose in God's place will eventually leave us, either through the normal circum- stances oflife or through death. God alone is always forgiving. Every other means of forgiveness that we seek apart from the love ofJesus Christ is rooted in works and will eventually fail because none of us can do enough works to match the gift ofJesus' shed blood on the cross. The only thing we can do when we realize that we have yielded to temptation, that we have sinned before God, and that our need is related to our sin is to ask for God's forgiveness. No amount of self-justification will work. No amount of making amends or doing penance will com- pensate for our sin. We must come to God and humbly confess our sin, ask Him to forgive us and to free us from the guilt of our sin, and ask Him to help us not to sin again. And then we must begin again, deter- mined that we will neither listen to Satan nor ponder the things that God has forbidden us to experience. · 11 Ten Reasons We Experience a Delay cJS'Why might God delay in meeting our needs? In Philippians 4:12, Paul stated, "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." Paul knew what it meant to experience God's full supply, but he also knew what it meant to suffer need-which is being needy to the point of suf- fering. Why would God allow such a great servant as Paul to suffer? What is the purpose of God in our experiencing need? There are at least ten reasons why God delays in meeting our needs. Any one of these reasons is sufficient in itself to keep God from meet- ing a need, but these reasons often work in combination. 1. DELAY CAUSED BY OUR DISOBEDIENCE Psalm 81 tells of God's past provision for the children oflsrael and how God desires to meet the needs of those who love and serve Him. In Psalm 81:10-12, we have a clear indication of both God's desire to meet needs and one of the reasons God delays in meeting needs: I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out ofthe land ofEgypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But My people would not heed My voice, 149 150 Our Unmet Needs And Israel would have none ofMe. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels. Clearly God desired to meet their needs-He wanted them to be in a position of opening their mouths wide and then being filled. This is a picture of God's desire to meet their need for food, and beyond that, His desire to meet all of their inner needs. What kept them from having their needs met? Their rejection of God and their failure to obey His voice. God said, He would have fed them also with the finest ofwheat; And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you. (Ps. 81:16) God wanted them to have the very best. But they cut off the supply lines by their behavior. They not only failed to receive God's best in their lives, but they also ended up stubbornly wallowing in their own ideas and plans. What a terrible place to end up! If you have a need, or needs, in your life, consider whether you are willfully disobeying what God has said to you. I once met a man who bemoaned the fact that he was experiencing some serious financial problems. He said, "I keep praying and asking God to meet my needs, but I get no answer. Why doesn't God help me? Surely He can sec that I am struggling greatly. Surely He can see that I am in serious trouble." Yes. God knew all about that man's struggles and financial problems. But God also knew that the man was no longer tithing. He had stopped tithing years ago. "But what," you may ask, "does tithing have to do with God's meet- ing a person's financial need?" It has a great deal to do with obedience and God's conditional promise regarding financial need. Let me remind you of God's Word in Malachi 3:8-10, "Will a man rob God?.Yet you hape robbed Me! Ten Reasons We Experience a Delay 151 But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring alt the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,» Says the LORD ofhosts, «IfI wilt not open for you the windows ofheaven And pour out far you such blessing That there wilt not be room enough to receive it.» God's promise of abundant, overflowing blessing is directly linked to obedience in giving tithes and offerings to Him. To ask God to supply your financial needs even when you deliber- ately withhold tithes and offerings as an act of your worship is to be foolish. To ask God to bless you financially even though you are in disobedience to His commandments is to ask God to overlook His own laws and statutes and to deny the truthfulness of His Word. God will not do that. Our role is to obey God in all matters, including our giving of tithes and offerings. This is not an area of negotiation. Even a schoolboy or -girl can understand God's command regarding giv- ing and receiving in Malachi 3:8-10. We must never expect God to turn His back on His Word for the sake of meeting our personal needs. 2. DELAY CAUSED BY OUR DOUBT James 1 :5-8 gives us a major principle of God regarding the meeting of our needs: If any ofyou Jacks wisdom, let him ask ofGod, who gives to alt liberally and without reproach, and it wilt be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting,for he who doubts is like a wave ofthe sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he wilt receive 152 Our Unmet Needs anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in alt his ways. Although this passage specifically addresses the need for wisdom, vir- tually any need can be named in place of the word wisdom in this passage because the principle of God is so clearly stated: the person who asks any- thing of God without faith is not going to receive what he requests. I kno

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