2014 New Year Reflections: God will provide what you need!

Nothing is accomplished without dreams and aspirations. We should all dream at the beginning of a new year  - not only about our own needs and opportunities, but certainly also about what God wants to and can do through our faith community.

In our vision for 2014 it would be important to take note that what we want, and what we need, do not always go hand in hand.

There are things that I have wanted and prayed for over a long time that the Lord has not given me.  Yet I know that God determines what is best for me. It is not always easy to accept that the Lord thinks that I need other things than what I want, and that in his love, he believes it was best for me not to have those things and opportunities I desired.

In his letter James writes in 1:16 - 18:  Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

Don’t be deceived!   How can we be deceived? One of the ways is that we believe that what we want is a necessity. And that we believe that what we want will be a good and perfect gift from God.

What God gives is the word of truth. What God gives is good and wise insight into what we need in order to enjoy satisfied lives. What God gives is what we need to make a difference in his Kingdom and in his Church.  To dream how to accomplish God’s vision for me and for his church could be the biggest vision I may ever have. 

But it does not exclude my personal needs.  (Matt. 7: 1 – 11)

Jesus said:  “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

God wants to get very personal with us about what we want and what we need. God is not into his Kingdom project in a way that what I do and what I need do not count anymore.  But the key word in both these two Scriptures, is the word “good”. We need what will be good for us and when God gives them, they will be more than good – they will be perfect!  But do we understand the difference between what we need and what we want, and that the Lord firmly promised to give us what we need?

Are you waiting on the Lord to give you something you really want in 2014? A job? A richer more satisfying marriage? Financial blessings? A cure from illness? To find your soul mate? Victory over an addiction?

We all want something, don’t we? Trusting God to decide what would be a good and perfect gift for us during 2014 will bring us peace of mind when we think about the year ahead of us.

May we, here at the beginning of 2014 pray that the Lord who knows what is best for our lives will, as in the past, give us what we need.

May we be at peace with it! 

And when we know God does what is best for us, may we resolve to only do our best for God’s work, every day of this year!