God Gives Us What We Need
Not Always What We Think We Want
A shiny new truck or sports car, a six-figure prestigious job, a younger, more attractive mate.
We think we know what we want until we get it — and the truth is, even if and/or when we do, we still are not happy or fulfilled.
That sports car ends up costing more in insurance and repairs than we can afford; the impressive job carries a price tag of stress for which we were unprepared; and the younger, more attractive mate simply hands us a host of unforeseen difficulties and problems worse than the ones we struggled with in our previous relationship.
As difficult as it is to admit, we don’t even know what we want, much less what we need.
But God knows.
He knows because He made us, and He knows our needs before we ask.
Before I became a Catholic, I was an Episcopalian. One of the most beautiful prayers that reflects this reality is in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
God knows our hearts. He knows what we are actually asking Him for even if we do not.
Therefore, God, in His great kindness, gives us what we really need most.
I recently met a woman who told me how, after she had given birth to three sons, she became pregnant again and was convinced this baby was another son.
When the baby was born, everyone in the labor/delivery room remained silent.
“What is wrong with him?” the anxious mother asked. “Does he have two heads? Did he break in half? What is going on?”
The grandmother replied, “She isn’t a he.”
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The mother was surprised and apprehensive because she only felt confident raising boys.
However, fast forward to today, and that daughter has been an amazing source of strength to her mother after her husband’s (and the daughter’s father’s) death a few months ago.
The mother said to me, “God gives us what we need.” How true!
I was reminded of the display I had seen at the Schoenstatt Shrine in Madison, Wisconsin, the altar of which is depicted in the photo above.
In front of the altar rail (not in the photo), there is a huge vase with a sign, “They have no wine.”
The poster recants the Gospel story that involved the miracle in Cana: Jesus turned water into wine during a wedding feast. The sign invites people to write their needs on slips of paper and put them into the vase.
In the Gospel story, the Blessed Virgin Mother first noticed the needs of the guests and then asked her Son to help the hosts supply more wine.
Jesus complied with the request, turning the water into wine, thereby beginning a life of giving people what they needed.
It is also interesting to note in the Scriptures that many people came to Jesus to request physical healing, yet Jesus often forgave their sins first before he healed them.
This fact provides further evidence that He knows what we need and will supply our needs.
For example, when people lowered down a paralytic lying on a mat, Jesus first said, “Child, your sins are forgiven,” and subsequently, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat and walk” (Mark 2: 5, 10 NAB).
Look at hundreds of examples in Scripture of God’s handiwork — every need supplied. God gave manna for food to his followers in the wilderness; Jesus fed a crowd of 5,000 with a handful of loaves and fishes.
We have to trust that God wants only the best for us.
He has never let me down. Ever.
Has God given me everything I asked for? No. Has God given me everything I needed? Absolutely! And thank God, literally, that He didn’t grant every request.
I don’t know about you, but I prefer to let my omnipotent, omniscient, loving Father in heaven decide how to respond to my prayers and requests instead of letting me call the shots.
