After pastoring for 26 years, I have gained an interesting perspective on humanity. I have seen good and bad. I have seen prosperity and poverty. I have seen joy and sorrow. I have seen gracious and selfish. Ask anyone who works in customer service about their experience with people. It is a sour-sweet experience. Humanity is certainly diverse.
One of these diverse things I have witnessed is tragic. There are people who recognize the need for God in their lives and because of that deep need, passionately pursue God. That vibrant relationship pours out into their walk and they honor God with their conduct and serve Him through His church.
Then there is the opposite. People often live without the need for a relationship with God. The only time I hear from some people is when there is a need. “Pastor I need to get married.” “Pastor, can you do a funeral?’ “Pastor come and pray for me in the hospital.” “Pastor, I need…” I think you get the picture. I am happy to do all these things, but is that all that it is in faith? You only seek God, his church, his shepherd when you need something. As soon as you are satisfied, you are gone. You don’t pray until you are in need. You don’t attend church and support it unless you need to get married. You don’t want a pastor until you need his services, and then go away pastor, I am good. See the problem. I do, daily.
Why is it that people only need God when there is a need? First, they don’t understand WHO God is. They don’t see Him as Creator, Savior, and Sovereign. They see God more as a warehouse manager. Secondly, they don’t see WHAT God has done for them. As we near Easter, we remember that God sent His Son to redeem us through the Cross and the great victory of the Resurrection. Finally, they do not comprehend HOW God can change a life. They don’t know how He can heal a broken heart, forgive a broken sinner, and renew a dead life. They simply do not know what God can do through them.
Jesus is not immune to this behavior. As the crowds realized that Jesus wasn’t here to feed and heal but to confront sin and destroy the work of Satan, they left. Look at John 6:66-67, “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” Jesus confronted even His chosen disciples about their intentions. Peter responds in verse 68, “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” Peter saw what we all need to see. He understood that life was impossible without a relationship with Jesus Christ. He understood his deep need for the Savior. He would live a life completely dependent upon that need.
There is a hymn that we sing often in our church. This hymn was written by Annie Sherwood Hawks (1835-1918). She wrote:
I need thee every hour,
most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like thine
can peace afford.
I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to thee.
The depth of these words would not fully be realized until her husband died. Mrs. Hawks wrote, "I did not understand at first why this hymn had touched the great throbbing heart of humanity. It was not until long after, when the shadow fell over my way, the shadow of a great loss, that I understood something of the comforting power in the words which I had been permitted to give out to others in my hour of sweet serenity and peace."
She did not realize how deeply she needed God until a great need arose. Do you need God? Do you need forgiveness? Do you need comfort? Do you need a healing deep within your broken heart? Cry out to Him now! He is quick to hear and anxious to respond to your plea. Let Him in and fully embrace Him, then never let go. Pursue God and stay by His side.
A story is told of a young inspiring minister that had just finished his seminary training. He was anxious to pastor and wanted to be the best he could possibly be. He visited a retired pastor one day to find out the secret of his successful ministry as a pastor. When he asked the older pastor what his secret was, the old man led him to a stream.
The old man invited the younger pastor to join him in the middle of the stream. The young man thought that the old man was going to perform some special baptism that would empower him to be a great minister as the old man had been. The old man grabbed the young pastor-to-be by the head and held him under the water. The young man, desperate for air, begin to thrash about, but the more he fought the old man, the more the old man held him down under the water.
Suddenly the old man let go. Gasping for air, the young man asked why the old man was trying to drown him. The old man asked him what he wanted while he was under the water. “Air, you old fool,” was the response of the young man. The old man looked at the young man and told him, “Just as you wanted air, want God that much! Pursue Him, draw near to Him, never forsake Him.”
God, I need Thee every hour!
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