Please pray for my patience and anger . . .
I hit send on the text to my husband and proceeded to open up Facebook, which would immediately be followed by Instagram. I thought some mindless scrolling might distract me from the hard work of parenting and the exhaustion of a restless night with the baby.
As my thumb reached for the little blue square, I was reminded that I had not yet opened my Bible. So my thumb slid down and over to the small brown square. I opened to the verse of the day: Philippians 4:19.
“Okay, God,” I thought, “I get it. You’re going to meet all my needs.” I proceeded to read the entirety of chapter four, and then, satisfied, I put my phone to sleep.
“You know my needs, God. You’re going to provide. I’m going to get some sleep tonight. My kid is going to behave. You’ll get me through the rest of this day.”
With my eyes closed in prayer, I heard a banging from the kitchen. My 3-year-old had found the meat mallet and a yellow banana.
I think you can imagine the scene.
I wanted to cry. This did not feel like a need being met.
I asked my son what on earth he was doing.
“I wanted to make banana muffins,” he explained through tears.
Smashed bananas are needed for banana muffins, but that baking project was not on my list for the day. Not to mention, we didn’t have brown bananas, only yellow ones, perfectly ripe for eating.
I squeezed the smooshed banana into a baggie, tossed the peel in the trash and the bag in the freezer, and explained to my little boy that we would not be making banana muffins.
For the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about this idea of needs.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how the needs I think I have are sometimes different than the needs God knows I have—and those are the needs He meets.
God saw what I didn’t—the continued challenges of the day—and He met my needs of patience and calm and an attempt to show love even when I didn’t feel like it.
Friends, maybe you’ve been there too. Maybe you have all your needs figured out and know exactly what God should do to meet them. But you’re left wondering why He’s not doing it.
We can rest in the assurance that every promise found in God’s Word, including that of Philippians 4:19, will be fulfilled. God knows our needs better than we do, and He will provide for them.
If you’re feeling lost in a forest of unmet needs, maybe it’s because you’re looking at the wrong trees.
Trust God. Ask Him to reveal your needs and give you the awareness to see Him meeting them.
And when He does . . . “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Philippians 4:20).
Lord,
Thank you for knowing me better than I know myself. Thank you for the way you meet my needs, sometimes those I didn't even know I had. Lord, help me trust in You. Help me see the way you provide for my needs. And may I always give YOU the glory for your work in me.
In your will, through your power,
and for your glory,
Amen
Kommentarer