Psalm 72:18

"Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things."

Two songs that I heard on the radio today got me thinking. In the first was the lyric, "He will make me what He wants me to be." In the second was the words, "He meets my every need." Put next to each other they represent a stark contrast in view concerning who God is, and what He desires. The second song carries with it the idea that God will take care of us. This is blessedly true. But the time will come when what we perceive as our needs is not really what we need. This could present a "crisis of faith" for us. If one of our children demanded ice cream, and only ice cream, for every meal, we would refuse. The child may see his demand as reasonable, and being what he needs. If we are loving and kind parents, though, we understand that a diet of that kind is not good for the child, no matter if he thinks he needs it. There are also times when for his own good we must refuse to meet even a legitimate need because there is a greater lesson to learn. So a child that is well able to support himself may be left to discover on his own what it means to cook, and buy groceries. To continue to meet those needs would not be good for the child. In the Bible, the Galatians are rebuked for wanting spiritual milk instead of spiritual meat. They should have grown out of the milk stage. So, when we say that God will meet our every need, we must understand that what we think to be our needs may not be in fact our true needs. As long as we let Him decide, and allow Him to do as He pleases, knowing that he is a loving, caring, faithful heavenly Father, He will always meet our needs. If we decide for Him, he will still meet our needs, but we will not see it right away because we will be looking at the wrong thing. And complaining about it! God is not a heavenly dispensing machine handing out blessing on demand. He meets our needs as He understands them to be.

The first song carries a hope and assurance that He is working. With that goes the sense that he also knows what is best. In the end of the book of 2 Samuel, David is presented with a choice of judgments. His response is, "Let us fall now into the hand of God, for His mercies are great." (2 Samuel 24:14). Judgment had to fall for sin that had been committed. God gave David the choice of which of three judgments he would prefer. David turned around and put the choice right back into God's hands. The need for the judgment was not argued. It was obvious that it was needed. David knew that it is always better to fall into the hand of God, for He is merciful. This is the tenor of the words of the first song. It is His work to make us what He wants us to be. What this implies is that He knows what he wants us to be, and what it takes to get us there. Both of these implications present particular problems. For, first of all, what He wants us to be may be different from what we want us to be. And secondly, the path upon which we need to be taken to get there is likely not the one we would choose, were we given the chance. We seem sometimes to think that we know better than He regarding what we need in order to be made how He wants. But if we honestly allow Him to work, then He will. And His methods may not be what we will choose.

Psalm 72 underlines the important truth that can link these together. God only does wondrous things. In any given event in our lives the wonder may be lost on us at the moment. But God is so beyond us. We will certainly one day see it. When we do we will be awestruck! The final question is whether we trust Him. Are we willing to stake our lives on His choices for us? Are we willing to trust Him regardless of how dark the night may seem? In the end, we will not be sorry if we do.

HJK