YOU NEED TO REMEMBER

 I want LOTS of things (well maybe a few anyway), but I need very few.  There is a huge difference in want and need.  Want is desire---the world will not end if I do not get my wants.  Need indicates a more intense basic necessity of the day to day.  I am currently plowing through a Churchill biography during the war years.  Every book I have ever read (that would be a bunch of them) about the war years in England has taught me a valuable lesson in the difference in wants and needs.  If you have ever read 



it is a wonderful example of living in the midst of wants and needs.  They wanted pie--so they began making pies from potato peels.  THAT is drastic!  Now I love potato "skins" when cooked crisp and heavily laden with butter and cheese, but if you read the book the pie does not even begin to sound appetizing.   My mother worked for the ration board during World War II while Daddy was in the European theater.  Everyone during this great war lived in want--but they had the bare necessity of their needs.  Great sacrifices from the masses for the war effort helped assure our continued freedom.

HOW did I wander off on this trail??  OH YES, the difference in needs and wants.  OK--I am fairly certain the Roasted Chestnut Praline Latte I love is a want.  Water neat (that is a term they use in the drinking world) is a necessity.  You cannot survive without water for long.  "Needs are something you must have in order to live."



The truth of the matter is for most of us the things we really need are readily available and we take that for granted.  We spend most of our time on the want list.  I am guilty of sometimes couching my wants with "I would really love to have".  My level of desire does not change the classification.


Recently I saw an example of God providing a need- the need for shelter.  This need was met quite unexpectedly---that is the way God loves to work.  We need to understand He meets our needs when we sometimes need it desperately.  He is our Jehovah Jireh--God our Provider.  The important thing to remember is God provides on His timetable--not ours.  The sacrificial lamb is a most beautiful example of this.  Though Abraham was headed toward obedience, at the last second God provided the sacrifice.  Up until time to light the fire, Abraham thought he would lose his son.  God provided another sacrifice--at the right time and place--He provided.  It was such a blessing to see how He used other Believers to meet the need.  What a joy for God to use us to accomplish His purpose.


SO--take heart--have faith--KNOW Jehovah Jireh will provide---exactly when He deems the timing is perfect.





3 comments

  1. Needs…I need more veggies.
    Wants…I want that Snicker bar.
    Great January blog…God provides. He will give me both…the veggies and the Snicker…The He says “choose”.
    YiKES.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society with wonder at the perseverance and grit of the British people under siege from the Nazis. I didn't know the Germans actually occupied that island! And I marveled at their ability to cope--with no new clothing for five years--as one example. Yes, we'd do well to keep our wants in perspective, AND celebrate that our Jehovah Jireh will see to it we have what we NEED! Thank you, Loralu!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments keep my writing and often cause me to think. A written form of a hug or a pat on the back and an occasional slap into reality---I treasure them all!