Needs and Wants

Way back in 6th grade, I really wanted a black felt hat like Debbie Gibson. That was my most awkward year. I had braces on my teeth and hair that was frizzy. I could never tightroll my jeans well, and my Mom wouldn’t buy me Guess jeans so I saved my money and got a pair of acid washed, pleated, tapered leg Z Cavaricci jeans on clearance at Merry Go Round which I wore entirely too often in my quest to fit in. My best friend wanted to be friends with the popular kids and ditched me, and I felt like a super unattractive, uncool, lonely dork. I was fairly confident that a black felt hat was the solution to my problems, so I asked for one for Christmas.

I didn’t get one.

What I did receive in sixth grade was a framed copy of 1 Chronicles 28:9. Solomon’s name had been replaced with my own, and the print read "And you, my daughter Natalie, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

That hat, while not what I needed, was what I wanted, and I was angry that I did not receive it. That framed scripture, while not what I wanted, was what I needed, yet for the next seven years of my life I would resist serving, seeking and even acknowledging the God of my father.

In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel delivers a prophetic word to the people of Israel. They have determined, according to the wisdom of their age, that what will make their lives and nation better is a King. After all, the other nations had Kings. And Samuel’s sons whom he had appointed to replace him weren’t honest. Yes, the people knew what was best! A King!

The Lord tells Samuel that the people are not rejecting Samuel, but God. So, Samuel warns the people of all that a King will cost them: their freedom, the best of their fields, vineyards and orchards given away, a tenth of their grain and flocks, even their sons and daughters. Israel would be enslaved. “But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

The Ebenezer Stone has been forgotten. The holy thunder of the Lord that routed the Philistines, the land that He restored to them, the safety He provided them...all disregarded in one generation by people who thought they knew what they needed more than God did.

Wise words are seldom the ones we want to hear.

-You are playing with fire.

-Repent!

-Your gossip is destructive.

-Your spending is out of control.

-You are sinning against God.

-Be reconciled.

We much prefer the advice of our culture:

-You only live once!

-You aren’t to blame.

-People need to know what’s happening.

-Self-care is important. You deserve this.

-God wants you to be happy!

Church, we are being led astray by the wisdom of our age! And at what cost? Is it worth our sons and daughters? Will we give them a black felt hat when what they need is God’s word in plain view during the most challenging years of their lives? Will we give them sports when what they need is to be sitting under the preaching of God’s Word? Will they see us embrace moral relativism or therapeutic deism rather than the true Word who calls us to count the cost and take up our cross? Will they see us consistently embrace our sin rather than repent and turn away from that which is an affront to a holy God?

For seven years, 1 Chronicles 28:9 hung on my wall, directly across from my bed. Every time I sinned, it was a reminder that I had a choice to make. If there truly was a God who knew the depths of my heart, a Sovereign King who created me and ultimately should have authority over my life, I must bend my knee to Him. Because of His pursuing love, one day I did.

Child of God, which king are you serving- the god of this age or the only true King? “For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods...today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”. 

-Natalie Runyon