When Wants And Needs Collide
When Wants and Needs Collide!
Intro: You don’t have to try hard to observe that the questions people ask the most deal with wants.
People from every generation are on a quest for answers to that dilemma…what is it that I really want?
ILL: We ask children all the time “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
I remember being asked… “Brent…what do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer that time was… “I want to be an Oceanographer!”
Oh really…and what does an Oceanographer do?
They swim and study sharks and Dophins! Sounded cool to me.
Actually I wanted to be an Oceanographer because my best friend, Tony, wanted to be an Oceanographer.
When I got older I took a mechanical drafting class that I loved…which led to an architecture class that I loved more. So then I wanted to be an architect! I went to college with that in mind.
But backslidden Brent lost his mind in college. When I got saved I took a year off…
It was during that time that I discovered… I wanted to lead my generation. So I went into youth ministry.
What did you want to be? Are you doing what you wanted?
Wouldn’t it be great if we knew when we were 8? Maybe you did…but most of us got it wrong at 8, 18, 28, 38…
In fact most people in America aren’t doing what they really want to do.
For most of us we feel like life just happened instead of us choosing what happened. (We really did choose.)
ILL: If I want Saltgrass it is associated with Hunger. BUT…I don’t need Saltgrass…I need food.
Most of us in here have an idea of the perfect car ortruck…we want it! BUT it’s not necessarily what we need.
What we need is transportation…for family…for work.
Wants aren’t bad things… In fact…You never begin the journey of creating the life you want until you know what you want.
This is why the process finds it’s fulfillment in knowing and loving God. Why?
Because when God has your heart you can trust your desires! Psalms tells us this…He gives you the desires of your heart.
His will is not a map; it’s a match. He shows you the way by setting you on fire. You will know God’s desire for you by the fire in you! The fire in you will light the way.
But fires can go out…a life we didn’t want can intrude.
There’s a few stories from God’s Word that speak to this I want to share today…and the first is in 2 Kings13:14-19.It’s the last act of Elisha’s life…and it asks us this?
In this story Jehoash is the king of Israel when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah are divided and at war against one another.
He is not a Godly king but what he has had is Elisha and the covering that comes from the prophetic.
V14…Elisha is sick and dying and Joash comes and weeps over him.
Is there anything left? Is there one more thing up its sleeve? Have I exhausted all it had in it?
Is my weeping for what was or because I want more?
Elisha then gives him some instructions as a last reveal of God’s intent for a man and a nation.
Elisha says, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he does so.
Then he tells him, “Take the bow in your hands.?”
When the king raises the bow and arrow; Elisha puts his hands on the king’s hands.
“Open the east window,” he says, and the king opens it.
“Shoot!” Elisha says, and Jehoash shoots. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declares. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”
Then he says, “Take the arrows,” and the king takes them.
Elisha tells him, “Strike the ground.” He strikes it three times and stops.
But watch what’s next: “The man of God was angry with him and said, ‘You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” Right after he says this, the story tells us, “Elisha died and was buried.”
At the surface you read this and say…I don’t get it…how can someone’s future be affected by how many times they strike the ground?
Why didn’t Elijah give him a heads up… “strike the ground like what you want to do to Aram!”
But it was left up to the king. He started out with the promise of complete victory and ended up with less.
Why? Because he quit. Maybe he was tired…bored… thought this was silly and I need answers.
But for the prophet it meant…he didn’t want it bad enough.
This Word was setting him up for enduring victory…But just as his life had demonstrated…he wanted blessing without relationship.
He came and wept over a prophet instead of weeping with a prophet.
His need was to see his value as enduring but he could only see his moment.
The dying hands of a prophet placed themselves over the hands of a king before he shot that first arrow.
There is a Word over your that you may feel is old and dying but it is guiding your shot.
You just have to WANT what it’s aiming at!!
There are a few stories in the life of Jesus where he asks questions that were so sneaky.
Matt. 20:29-32 (MEV) Is one of them…The story of the two blind men on the road to Jericho.
29 As they departed from Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30 There, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
31 The crowd rebuked them, that they should be silent. But they cried out even more, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
32 Jesus stood still and called them, saying, “What do you Want me to do for you?”
It sounds like an obvious question! Sort of like if someone calls you at 2 in the morning and asks…did I wake you?
But let me ask you? What would your answer be? How long have you been living blind and not answering the obvious.
How long have you been living defeated, lost, sick, trapped …and not answering the obvious! I want to SEE!!
It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t know…it was because he wanted them to declare what they wanted them to do for them.
They could have answered…
But their answer was… “We Want Our Sight!!!
And Jesus responds with Compassion!!
This wasn’t about “Pity us Lord”…it was about need.
God doesn’t come to Pity You.
He asks what you want… to see if you know your need!
I’m convinced there are many of us who are walking blind because we ask God for a cane rather than for sight.
Jesus fully intended to give sight to these two guys…but imagine if, when he asked that question, they had asked him for so much less than he longed to provide for them.
Let’s go back and revisit Elisha for the wrap.
2 Kings 4:1-7 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
This is a wife of a prophet…she knows of God! She knows Prophet things. It’s like living with the preacher.
In other words she has seen and heard the Word of the Lord. Yet here she is in shambles because crisis has hit her home…she could lose it all. And in this place…she turns to God...which in this case is Elisha.
Elisha hits her with the Question about her need: How Can I Help You? (What do you want?)
But then He asks her a revealing Question. What do you Have?
Her answer reveals her outlook more than her reality.
“Your servant has nothing there at all.” And upon reflection she adds, “Except a small jar of olive oil.”
“I got nothin…correction…I don’t have much.”
It’s Interesting that Elisha never tells her what God is going to do…just what she needs to do.
God doesn’t need much to do much.
What he does need is obedience. Go get a bunch of empty jars from your neighbors. (Strike your arrows on the ground!)
Why didn’t he do that for Joash?
First…Because Joash was a King! Greater Insight and Faith is involved because the stakes were higher.
Her faith would save her life…His Faith would save a nation.
Elisha seems to know that the human conditon is to expect too little. Don’t get just a few. Don’t strike just 3 times!!
And the story makes it sound like she succeeds. God’s supply goes on and on…until the last jar. Enough and More!
How many neighbors did she ask? Because when the pots were no more the oil stopped.
I bet she wished she had just one more!! God doesn’t run out of oil…she ran out of jars.
This may come as a surprise to some of you: Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person.
To a lot of people the Good News is simple…Know the right thing and Do the right thing.
But in my experience… I haven’t seen people really getting all excited about that.
We need life!!…and we’ve been looking for it ever since we left Paradise.
We began in Paradise…we will End in Paradise. Somewhere we should get the idea that God is interested in our satisfaction as much as he is our obedience.
One of the Greatest Psalms Shouts it Out.
Psalm 23
Scream it with me…
The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not WANT!!!!!
Every verse is code language for something you Want that God Gives!
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures-Comfort
he leads me beside quiet waters- Serenity
he restores my soul-Healing
He guides me in paths of righteousness-Saves and Keeps You
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil-Protection
your rod and your staff, they comfort me- Guidance
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies-Provision.
You anoint my head with oil-Purpose
my cup overflows-Joy
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life-Favor
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever–Relationship
Until that happens we are just like the rest of the population…in need.
Why didn’t people understand Jesus? Because he came along and started appealing to wants.
But only Jesus can Help You attach your want to your need…And heal you.