NEEDINESS

Image result for google clip art showing prayer  There is a consistent truth that runs through-out God's Word...we humans are most needy!  Over the years, I have felt ashamed that I am so needy.  I have holed up in the Psalms off and on for years, and I have FINALLY begun to notice that the psalmists with all their physical and mental assets were NEEDY!  Do a quick accounting looking over the Psalms and you will find that many of them are about praise and thanksgiving, but most of them are about a care, a need, wondering if God was hearing their prayer, desperate cries of alarm, distress, and pleas to defend the psalmist against his foes. Aha!  2 Corinthians 12:8-9, Paul's thorn in the flesh,"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Why do I need to pray?  Because I AM needy and it is my agreement with the Lord God that I need HIM desperately to intervene and it is my choice to humble myself under HIS mighty hand knowing HE is all-wise.

In Isaiah 37:21, a wonderful brief clause stands out HUGE, "BECAUSE YOU PRAYED TO ME".  This is a part of the Lord's reply to King Hezekiah when his foe, the king of Assyria and his army are coming to wipe out Israel.  Consider with me, that the Lord may allow some of our presses from our foes or from our own failures to reveal to us how needy we are, and that we might turn to HIM and not trust, rationalize, analyze, strategize, figure out what we are going to do without praying to HIM.  Prayer must become our first line of defense and even our offense.  1 Thessalonians 5:17 commands me, "Pray continually."  I just cannot imagine any Christ follower who does not need to pray! Thank YOU, ABBA, for being all-hearing and responding to our desperate cries in YOUR perfect time.  Forever learning!  In process!  #IHAVETHREESONS.

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