I tend to think of needs with some end in mind. Like, what do you need in order to physically survive vs. what do you need to survive and be comfortable etc. etc. etc. Because without some context it's hard to say what you "need." You could say that everybody needs nourishment. But really you only need nourishment if you want to stay alive, and who says you need to stay alive? Maybe, in fact, it's God's will for you to die. We all have to do it sometime; maybe today's your day.
Sometimes I think a good way to think about your needs is like this: "God promises to provide my needs. I feel like I'm missing a lot of stuff, but if God's being true to His promises (which I have to believe He always does), then this must be all I need, right here right now. Anything else I would like to have must just be gravy." Now this only goes so far as you trust Him. Because your *ultimate* need is God Himself. In fact, as long as you have Him, you have everything you need, because He is able to provide anything He wants to give you, and anything He doesn't want to give you, by definition you don't need. So if you're not trusting God or seeking His presence, you'll be lacking the one true ultimate need you will always have, and in that sense, to whatever extent you lack love for and faith in Him, you are lacking something you need. But I think if you truly know, love, and trust God, then what you have is always exactly what you need, even if for some reason you lack nourishment or human affection or any of these other God-given earthly gifts that everyone would have in a "perfect" world. The only way I ever keep myself from the sin of discontent is to seek God as if all my other aches and yearnings are irrelevant so long as I have Him. Because if God wants me to live alone, I can do it. If he wants me to live without friends, I can manage. If he wants me to be burned at the stake and He promises to be with me in it, I'll sing His praises as I cook. But I can only survive the loss of all other things if I truly gain Him. Otherwise life is hell.
I started out by thinking this. This works, except that most people do not do this. I mean, using this method, technically, no one needs anything at all. So the word becomes not that useful anymore. We have other ways of saying. "I want to live, therefore I eat."
And then there is the idea that Adam and Eve did not need anything in the original creation. That is why I went there. It seems fair to look through what we know of the created order of things and see what we now lack from that.
God, of course, can supply all needs. He seemed to do this through the creation, which He maintained, in the beginning. God also knows what we need better than we do.
Sometimes I think a good way to think about your needs is like this: "God promises to provide my needs. I feel like I'm missing a lot of stuff, but if God's being true to His promises (which I have to believe He always does), then this must be all I need, right here right now. Anything else I would like to have must just be gravy." Now this only goes so far as you trust Him. Because your *ultimate* need is God Himself. In fact, as long as you have Him, you have everything you need, because He is able to provide anything He wants to give you, and anything He doesn't want to give you, by definition you don't need. So if you're not trusting God or seeking His presence, you'll be lacking the one true ultimate need you will always have, and in that sense, to whatever extent you lack love for and faith in Him, you are lacking something you need. But I think if you truly know, love, and trust God, then what you have is always exactly what you need, even if for some reason you lack nourishment or human affection or any of these other God-given earthly gifts that everyone would have in a "perfect" world. The only way I ever keep myself from the sin of discontent is to seek God as if all my other aches and yearnings are irrelevant so long as I have Him. Because if God wants me to live alone, I can do it. If he wants me to live without friends, I can manage. If he wants me to be burned at the stake and He promises to be with me in it, I'll sing His praises as I cook. But I can only survive the loss of all other things if I truly gain Him. Otherwise life is hell.
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I started out by thinking this. This works, except that most people do not do this. I mean, using this method, technically, no one needs anything at all. So the word becomes not that useful anymore. We have other ways of saying. "I want to live, therefore I eat."
And then there is the idea that Adam and Eve did not need anything in the original creation. That is why I went there. It seems fair to look through what we know of the created order of things and see what we now lack from that.
God, of course, can supply all needs. He seemed to do this through the creation, which He maintained, in the beginning. God also knows what we need better than we do.
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