We Need God

by Intern Pastor Meggie Bjertness

“I am needy.”

We don’t like that statement much, do we?

It is fine and dandy to be needy when we are young. In fact, we expect it from babies, toddlers, and young children. But somewhere along the line, it becomes less and less “ok” to show our struggles. Just when does that happen?

As adults, we are expected to function perfectly all the time. At work, we are asked to perform and produce, working well overtime to “get the job done right.” At home we must cook, clean, and maintain the home while educating and entertaining the family. And then, even when we are with ourselves and notice we are down, we so often tell ourselves to “shape up,” “buck up,” or “just get over it.”

But some things you can’t just “get over.” When someone dies, when you lose your job, when a loved one makes choices that hurt, when the news wears you down, when you’re in the fourth month of a pandemic with cases on the rise… And then there are our everyday needs: food, sleep, shelter, companionship, and stability.

The fact is, there are things in life that we need. We are needy. Not necessarily clingy, incapable, lazy, or entitled, but we are in need of the grace, peace, love, and rest of God.

We sometimes think we are wrong to be needy, but this is not so. In fact, God created us with his needs such that “God’s power could be made perfect through our weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). The truth is, it is in our moments of failure, in our moments of need, in our moments of pain, that we realize we need God the most.

It is good to recognize our needs, for it is then that we see our need for God.

All of this to say, I do not want any of us to stay in a place of need forever. We cannot stay tired, grieved, alone, afraid, or unempowered forever. Remember the promises of scripture:

• Philippians 4:19-20 reminds us, “God will fully supply your every need according to his glorious riches through Christ Jesus Our Lord.”
• Psalm 40:17 says, “God, you are my helper and my savior. O my God, do not delay.”
• And Psalm 27:5 says, “He will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.”

Friends in Christ do not despair, even in a moment of need. The Lord sees your needs and longs to comfort you “as a mother hen covers her chicks with her wings” (Matt. 23:37).

Take a moment to identify your needs and ask the Lord for help. And if you happen to be in a place where you feel able to help another, ask the Lord how you can help others. In this way, by the grace of God, we will encourage, admonish, and build one another up until the day the Lord returns (1 Thess. 5:11).

It is “ok” to be needy. We are all needy. We all need God.

Peace,
Intern Pastor Meggie Bjertness