Proverbs 30: 8-9, Philippians 4:19I love bananas. I don’t actually eat that many of them myself, but they are brilliant when you have kids. It’s one of the few things that my little Ben isn’t allergic to, it has its own wrapper, and it’s pretty easy to mop off the furniture when the kids decide to copy Jackson Pollock’s artwork on the lounge. I love them. So it came as a shock last year when the price of bananas went from about $4 a kilo to (at least at my local shop) $16 a kilo.
Cyclone Larry blew through Queensland in March 2006, and in a 12-hour period wiped out 80% of their banana industry. As a result, the supply of bananas evaporated within a few weeks, and the prices rose unbelievably – to the point that the Federal Government of the day blamed the first interest rate rise in years on banana price increases. I doubt that the nation's economy will be plunge into the abyss because of bananas, but it does point out one of the big fundamentals of the world: demand and supply. Are bananas a want, or are they a need?
One of our greatest problems is that society, as a whole, has no idea what needs are anymore. There's a non-stop, high-intensity war being waged by marketing departments. The side-effect is the pressure that's put on us by a world that demands that we appear a certain way, eat or drink certain products, buy certain clothes. The pressure demands that we spent money to do this. Strange to say, with it comes the sad fact that we are almost forced to think that it could never be any different.
Here in a nutshell is the distortion that that we must consider:
*Needs are considered as rights, or entitlements. If your needs are not met, then somebody is to blame – someone has fallen down on the job.
*Wants are considered to be needs. Mobile phones are now so much a part of society that most of us would have trouble functioning socially without one.
*Luxuries are now wants. Look no further than iPods. Basically it’s the new Walkman – it plays music. It’s no better than most other MP3 players, twice as expensive, requires its own software in order to work (now making a computer a necessity to simply program a luxury device)… and it’s about the most desirable electronic device since colour television. It's so desirable, and so well-packaged that it's really re-defined the term must-have.
*Absolute extravagances are marketed as “you deserve it” indulgences and rewards – high-end sportscars, resorts to cater to your every whim and first-class accommodation to fly you there.
Marketing gurus earn their keep by making things that are not, strictly speaking, NEEDS into can’t-live-withouts. That’s their job. And the cleverest ones hit us right on the envy button. Basically we know we’ll feel a little better once we have it – whatever it is. And (here’s the subtle and dangerous bit) we won’t quite be as happy as we were… until we have it. Avarice is congratulated and praised as ambition.
We live in a world of demands and wants – but we live in a world of needs, too. It’s one of the most amazing and ironic things that two of the best-known Bible passages outside the Church contain a REAL need and the answer…
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins… and deliver us from evil…”
“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down…”
Along with John 3:16, these are probably the two most-turned-to passages in Scripture; one is a request so stripped of anything other than raw need, and the other contains God’s answer.
Praise to our wise Lord who knows us – really knows us – and knows our needs better than we do. We need to pray earnestly that we can tell the difference between our needs and our wants. Personally, I need to trust His wisdom when He doesn’t supply all my wants. Daily bread is far better for me than daily Mars Bars. And – and this is a big and – I need to pray that the Lord will teach me how to be content when He provides what He deems to be my needs.
The world actively encourages a spirit of discontentment, of dissatisfaction. Never, it says, be satisfied with what you have, where you are, what you are given, who you are, the quality of the things you do, or the quality of your life. Strive for more. Never settle for second-best… with the implication that best is always ahead of us, not yet – perhaps never – within our furtive graspings.
Until we allow God to disconnect us from the world’s irrational rationale we will never really find comfort in the beauty of Psalm 23. He knows our needs, and he will supply them. He knows we need rest and nutrition and hydration – He makes us lie down, He leads us to green pastures and to quiet and still waters. This is what the Good Shepherd does. And He reaches beyond the physical needs of our mortal bodies to give us the things our spirits need – safety, deep security… “He restores my soul.” But right up front is the unsaid condition that so many crave: “I shall not want…”
And yet… and yet we insist on choosing our own path. We chase our own desires, and fool ourselves into thinking that satisfaction is just a hill away… the grass is just that bit greener over there… and then we wonder how on Earth we got ourselves into the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Humans crave satisfaction. We don’t want to be little Mick Jaggers complaining that we can’t get no satisfaction (we can’t get no grammar lessons, either). But we need to be able to be satisfied with HOW God provides for us. That’s so hard when the world has trained us to be unsatisfiable. It will take a transformation to renew our minds like this!
I have a favourite verse tucked away in Proverbs, and it popped up again when I started gathering thoughts for this – and it amazed me (again and again) how the question and the answer come so brilliantly. Testament ping-pong! Here’s one of the best prayers I’ve ever come across, one that I’ve tried to use as a prayer guide for myself:
“Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor wealth. Yes, provide me with just the food I need today; for if I have too much I might deny you and say ‘Who is the Lord?’ And if I am poor I might steal and thus profane the name of my God.” Proverbs 30:8-9 (Proverbs of Agur)
*Absolute extravagances are marketed as “you deserve it” indulgences and rewards – high-end sportscars, resorts to cater to your every whim and first-class accommodation to fly you there.
Marketing gurus earn their keep by making things that are not, strictly speaking, NEEDS into can’t-live-withouts. That’s their job. And the cleverest ones hit us right on the envy button. Basically we know we’ll feel a little better once we have it – whatever it is. And (here’s the subtle and dangerous bit) we won’t quite be as happy as we were… until we have it. Avarice is congratulated and praised as ambition.
We live in a world of demands and wants – but we live in a world of needs, too. It’s one of the most amazing and ironic things that two of the best-known Bible passages outside the Church contain a REAL need and the answer…
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins… and deliver us from evil…”
“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down…”
Along with John 3:16, these are probably the two most-turned-to passages in Scripture; one is a request so stripped of anything other than raw need, and the other contains God’s answer.
Praise to our wise Lord who knows us – really knows us – and knows our needs better than we do. We need to pray earnestly that we can tell the difference between our needs and our wants. Personally, I need to trust His wisdom when He doesn’t supply all my wants. Daily bread is far better for me than daily Mars Bars. And – and this is a big and – I need to pray that the Lord will teach me how to be content when He provides what He deems to be my needs.
The world actively encourages a spirit of discontentment, of dissatisfaction. Never, it says, be satisfied with what you have, where you are, what you are given, who you are, the quality of the things you do, or the quality of your life. Strive for more. Never settle for second-best… with the implication that best is always ahead of us, not yet – perhaps never – within our furtive graspings.
Until we allow God to disconnect us from the world’s irrational rationale we will never really find comfort in the beauty of Psalm 23. He knows our needs, and he will supply them. He knows we need rest and nutrition and hydration – He makes us lie down, He leads us to green pastures and to quiet and still waters. This is what the Good Shepherd does. And He reaches beyond the physical needs of our mortal bodies to give us the things our spirits need – safety, deep security… “He restores my soul.” But right up front is the unsaid condition that so many crave: “I shall not want…”
And yet… and yet we insist on choosing our own path. We chase our own desires, and fool ourselves into thinking that satisfaction is just a hill away… the grass is just that bit greener over there… and then we wonder how on Earth we got ourselves into the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Humans crave satisfaction. We don’t want to be little Mick Jaggers complaining that we can’t get no satisfaction (we can’t get no grammar lessons, either). But we need to be able to be satisfied with HOW God provides for us. That’s so hard when the world has trained us to be unsatisfiable. It will take a transformation to renew our minds like this!
I have a favourite verse tucked away in Proverbs, and it popped up again when I started gathering thoughts for this – and it amazed me (again and again) how the question and the answer come so brilliantly. Testament ping-pong! Here’s one of the best prayers I’ve ever come across, one that I’ve tried to use as a prayer guide for myself:
“Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor wealth. Yes, provide me with just the food I need today; for if I have too much I might deny you and say ‘Who is the Lord?’ And if I am poor I might steal and thus profane the name of my God.” Proverbs 30:8-9 (Proverbs of Agur)
James Macbeth sent the answer as a text message a few months ago (which makes me reconsider the cell-phone - maybe it's a need after all...), and I chewed on this for ages;
And here’s the answer – “My God shall supply all your needs, according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:19. His riches – not my riches, or riches that any accountant, billionaire or government can begin to comprehend. God’s riches are so vast that meeting every possible need could never dent the supply… and, if we consider the old law of supply and demand, God gives us priceless gifts freely.
Sometimes it is not so easy to see the answer – to see God supplying the need. Not so long ago, our one-year-old, Maggie, was injured. Our boy Ben was playing around, and he threw a video case - and it hit Maggie by accident. But it hit her right on the eyeball. She screamed - and kept screaming. We rushed her up to the Children's Hospital at Randwick, and the doctors there found a great rip across her cornea. And right then and there, we realised how horribly close she was to losing sight in that eye. At the very least, she was looking at a life of compromised vision.
What I wanted was – well, I wanted it to un-happen, I wanted everything to be all right if I clicked my fingers or prayed hard enough. What I needed was to be a support for Fiona, a calm one in a crisis, and a comfort to the rest of my little family who were getting very distressed with all the noise. In short, I needed to be a husband and a father. What I wanted to be was a super-hero. And you know what God supplied… It’s very easy for me to say that my needs aren’t being supplied – but I have to take the time to work out that most of what I want… I want, not need. And I need to be thankful.
Because that’s one of the things that must mark us as men defined by grace – that we are thankful. In a world of dissatisfaction and discontentment, we who are satisfied, contented – and thankful – stand out like a clean green oasis in the middle of the desert. And you won’t believe how an oasis will draw every creature that craves water. Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life, said our Lord, and our job is always to take people to the water. Let’s go into the world today, being thankful, trusting that God will always do as he says He will in supplying all our needs.
Because that’s one of the things that must mark us as men defined by grace – that we are thankful. In a world of dissatisfaction and discontentment, we who are satisfied, contented – and thankful – stand out like a clean green oasis in the middle of the desert. And you won’t believe how an oasis will draw every creature that craves water. Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life, said our Lord, and our job is always to take people to the water. Let’s go into the world today, being thankful, trusting that God will always do as he says He will in supplying all our needs.
Artwork: Detail from School Of Athens, Sanzo Rafaello. From http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Heraklit.jpeg
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