I have a need. Which one of us doesn’t, right? I don’t know how you size needs in your world; in mine, this one qualifies as “big”. What makes it big? Well, it’s something that is very important to me, and something that I can’t address on my own. It has long-term consequences and a short-term deadline. It involves and impacts people I love. Value is a relative measuring stick, but by the standards that govern my world, there is a lot at risk for me in this situation. It’s a reality that I’m faced with every day. It’s big, really big.
Have I spoken to God about my need? You betcha. All the time. Do I believe that God can meet my need? Absolutely. Do I believe He will meet my need? Yes. Seriously, I really do. No, I’m not just saying that. Sure, there are moments when I don’t feel very comfortable with the situation, and wish that it could be over, and get discouraged when I look at the obstacles that have to be overcome, but I’ve seen God provide for both myself and others too many times to not believe this time won’t be any different than any of the others. I know and believe that my heavenly Father not only knows what I need before I do, but has already provided for it before the need existed.
I have no problem with the part where He provides for my need. The part I struggle with is coming to terms with the fact that He creates the need in the first place.
When you take an honest look at the pages of Scripture, you see that God intentionally, purposefully, and premeditatively creates the need, just so the miracle He planned to do all along makes an even bigger impression.
No, I’m not talking about retribution theology, which teaches that God is good to those who are good, and those who aren’t get what they deserve. And I’m not trying to blame God for all my troubles, shirking my responsibility and making Him the author of evil. But when you take a hard, honest look at the pages of Scripture, He does this. He intentionally, purposefully, and premeditatively creates the need, just so the miraculous thing He knew all along He was going to do makes an even bigger impression.
Did He really have to wait until the Egyptians were bearing down hard on Israel before parting the Red Sea? Would it have been any more difficult to have the dry ground already waiting for them when they got there, instead of letting them feel trapped and panic? Would it have taken any more oil to fill the flask of the woman who ministered to Elisha than to just give her enough for one day at a time? If He was going to turn water into wine at the marriage in Cana anyway, would it have been too much of an inconvenience to not let them run out to begin with?
Lest you think I’m being a little too melodramatic or overly sensitive, let me assure you I’m not making this up. Sometimes He not only creates the need, He comes right out and tells us that He did it on purpose. When Lazarus got sick, He intentionally delayed for two days before going to Bethany, to be sure Lazarus was not only dead but stinking. When it came time to feed the 5000, John makes it pretty clear that Jesus set the whole situation up and put Philip on the spot, when He already had a plan and knew what He was going to do. But the one that really gets me is the blind man He healed in John 9, whom Jesus Himself said had been made blind from birth just so He could walk by on that Sabbath day and heal him. It’s great that he was healed, but what about the years he suffered and the ridicule he endured up to then? What about all the times that Jesus has walked by him on previous trips to the temple, and hadn’t lifted finger? What about the fact that He chose do this on a Sabbath so it would be particularly offensive to the Pharisees? And Jesus doesn’t even try to hide the fact that this whole situation is a set-up: He directly states that the man had been born blind “in order that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3) Talk about getting used. Since the man is described later by his parents as being “of age”, some scholars think he may have been in his 30s — that’s a long time for a guy, whom Jesus Himself said had done nothing to deserve his fate, to sit around and suffer just so Jesus could show up one Saturday morning and make a point.
So here I sit with my need — check that, my really BIG need — with no immediate resolution in sight, but with the realization that He created the need Himself. Should I feel like a patsy?
Why does He do things this way? In the case of the blind man, we read that it was so the works of God could be displayed in him. Big needs require big solutions, which require a big God. That makes sense, but it still sounds a little capricious. Sure, He gets glory out of this, but He doesn’t need to torture us to get glory. After all, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament displays His handiwork. If it were just about getting glory, all He would have to do is show up and make stuff — there’s no need to artificially create dependencies that cause us pain to make that point.
When Jesus tells the twelve that it’s now time to go to Bethany because Lazarus had died, He also says, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that you may believe” (John 11:15) He didn’t actually need to be present in Bethany to heal or raise Lazarus — He had already healed several others “remotely” — but His intention for not going was clear: that they might believe. When Martha meets him as He approaches Bethany, she affirms that she knows He could have saved Lazarus if He had only been there, to which He replies, “I am the resurrection and the life . . . do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
The funny thing about faith is that you don’t know you have it until you need it, you don’t know how good it is until you exercise it, and you don’t exercise it unless you have to.
You see, it’s a funny thing about faith: you don’t know you have it until you need it, you don’t know how good it is until you exercise it, and you don’t exercise it unless you have to. So He makes sure you have to. All. The. Time. When He creates a need, He’s not necessarily trying to establish the fact that He’s bigger than I am (although I frequently need reminding on that point). What He’s really creating is a reason for me to trust Him, because my wayward heart just plain and simply doesn’t trust Him when it is not given occasion to do so. Without constant dependence on God, my relationship with Him grows stale.
I can’t justify theologically the notion that God needs anything. He is all-powerful and totally self-sufficient. If He weren’t, He wouldn’t be God. But from my human perspective, realizing that He’s intentionally creating so much need in my life and in the lives of those around me tells me that He wants us to believe Him and trust Him a whole lot — so much so that it almost appears to be something that He needs. He’s not dependent on me, but He wants to do so many wonderful things in my life that He goes out of His way to create impossible situations that only He can overcome so that there’s no way for me to doubt how much He loves me.
You see, it’s only when you’re hemmed in and Pharaoh is breathing down your neck that seeing the waters part for you but collapse on him means something. It’s only when you empty the flask of oil every single day that you marvel there’s still some in it the next morning. It’s only when you realize that thousands of people haven’t eaten all day that feeding them until they’re full (and have leftovers) with just a young boy’s lunchable can’t be explained away. It’s only when someone’s been dead for four days that seeing them walk out of a tomb blows your mind. It’s only when you’ve never seen anything before in your entire life that the wonder of two functioning eyes is anything more than commonplace. It’s only in the face of extraordinarily difficult or dire circumstances that an extraordinarily wonderful solution is deemed a miracle.
I have a need. It’s a really big one. And I am being set up — I’m being set up to see Him work in my life in a way that is going to totally blow my mind in ways that are more wonderful than I can imagine. So, instead of complaining about how He’s abusing me by creating a need that only He can resolve and then making me wait until He does, what I really need is to trust Him to the point that I beg Him to create even bigger needs in my life: because the bigger the need, the bigger the miracle is that’s about to happen.
I have a need. Do you want me to ask Him to create one for you too?
