Perceived Needs

I opened my Bible to today’s daily reading and here’s the first verse I read:

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.”

Is this a joke, I wondered to myself? I had an exhausting day yesterday. I was dying for Lina time, time alone with the Lord, and was so looking forward to this morning’s quiet time. And that’s all God could throw my way? A reminder that my last date was over a year ago?

What do you do when God does not seem to cooperate with your needs?

One thing I do is keep on reading. I finished the Song of Solomon passage for the day and got absolutely NOTHING out of it. Then I went to the II Corinthians portion of the reading. It consisted basically of a farewell greeting from Paul to the Corinthian church.

You’ve gotta be kidding me? I’m having an emotional crisis here and God decides to hold back now?!

So I go to the Psalms reading. And I get this verse: “The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.”

Perspective check. Brain alert. And in the glimmer of a moment I get it.

God is not my genie in the bottle. He does not exist to fill my whims or simply to make my life easier. This isn’t some Alice in wonderland faith journey I am living. This is real life with its steep mountains and deep valleys and occasional winding roads. This is real life with its questions and hurts and frustrations and needs.

This is real life, and it’s not about me. It’s about Him. A God who speaks. A God who summons the earth to Him from every corner and in every language.

The Bible isn’t some book to help me figure out when my next kiss will be, nor is it a book that predicts for me when I’ll finally get my dream job or how much my salary will be or when I’ll pay off my debt.

The Bible is a book about a Savior. It’s a book about a Savior calling a lost world to Himself. It’s a book about a God who comforts, and directs, and provides, and calms, all for the goal of summoning the earth to Him.

When God doesn’t seem to cooperate with your need, the problem isn’t that God stopped caring about your need. The problem is that you are fixing your eyes on your need instead of the Savior. The problem is that you have become the center of your world. There is a world out there. It extends far beyond your neighborhood and your town.

And God is summoning it to Him.

What part will you play in His plan?

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