Just What I Needed – July 28, 2020

As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth.
Isaiah 55:10,11

Just What I Needed

“That’s just what I needed,” says your buddy after you meet him for happy hour after a long day of work. “It’s exactly what I needed,” exclaims your mother after opening your thoughtful birthday gift. “Just What I Needed,” is not just a hit song from the 1970s, it’s also God’s promise regarding his Word to you.

It is somewhat subtle in our bible passage for today but notes the appropriateness of what God’s Word accomplishes. “It yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,” not seed for the eater or bread for the sower. God’s Word appropriately provides. God’s Word always gives us what we need.

So the question naturally becomes, “What do you need today?” Not, “What do you want?” But, “What do you need?” Go ahead. Write five current needs on a piece of paper in front of you or on the notepad of your mind. Now write five needs you’ll need six months from now. A year from now. Five years from now.

Could you do it? As our circumstances change, so do our needs. If I would have asked you in February what your needs would be six months later, I doubt any of us could have guessed what our needs would be in this pandemic. I still don’t know what I need. But God does. Not only does he know your needs, he knows how and when to address them. Just because you may be an adult who provides for others’ needs, don’t lose the comfort and promise of having a God who promises to provide appropriately for your needs. You’re never too old to sing, “I am Jesus’ little lamb; ever glad at heart I am, for my shepherd gently guides me, knows my needs and well provides me” (Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal – 469).

Prayer:
Lord, calm my heart as your Word assures me that you will give what I need when I need it. Amen.