Needy

Needy is sort of an ugly word. It usually makes people cringe... much like "clingy" and "co-dependent" do... makes you feel like you just walked thru a spider web and you've got that nasty stuff all over you and you can't get it off.

But I admit it... I'm needy.

I am feeling the anxious stress these days of the very unsettling times that we are living in. And I'm guessing that I'm not alone. No, I'm not worried about the big picture because I know that the future is in God's very able hands. You could call me, in the words of a fellow from Texas by the name of Buckner Fanning, a long-term optimist and a short-term pessimist. That would be accurate. That's me.

Long-term... there is no doubt in my mind or heart that God is ruling from heaven and that He is in control of things. He's not whincing or covering His eyes or hiding behind His throne or losing sleep or wringing His hands or wiping the sweat from His brow or experiencing elevated blood pressure and an increased heart rate or asking frustrated questions or finding Himself confused and surprised or asking out of the game. He's got things covered and there is absolutely no doubt about that.

Short-term... I wonder just how far we may fall and just how difficult things may get and just what it will take for us to realize how desperate we are for God and just how far we have drifted as a nation from the moorings that once anchored our thinking, guided our steps, ensured our security, and steadied our collective soul.

Our circumstances do nothing in the way of offering hope.

From Wall Street crashing to legislators bickering to emergency government bailouts to our crumbling infrastructure to radical terrorists who are hell-bent on killing to foreign leaders expressing their desire to destroy us and to wipe Israel off the map to our mounting financial debt owed to China to Christians being slaughtered in eastern India and all over the world to Russia's resurgence to droughts to rising gas prices to increased gas shortages to a pivotal presidential election to a devaluation of God's Word to a housing market that has stalled... [ please, forward some of the things you see in our country and around the world, things that are bothering you ]

Things don't look all that good right now.

Solomon was right, worry weighs a person down. (Proverbs 12:25) Not that that's new information, just relevant to us in a whole new way lately. For far too long, we have been stuffing our faces with the bread of anxious toil (Psalm 127:2) and we have fooled ourselves into believing that our busyness is not in vain. Like Martha, we are often anxious and troubled about many things... things that don't really matter. (Luke 10:41)

My Bible tells me to not be anxious about anything. (Philippians 4:6) Oh, come on, are you serious? Nothing? In this world? Do you have any idea what I'm facing? It tells me to cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. ALL of them? Can't I just hang on to THIS one? What about THAT? I can handle it, really I can! No, you big dummy, you can't!!! (Sorry, sometimes I have to talk to myself that way... somehow it helps to get the point across.)

God help us all to pray, to open our hearts to You, to give You an all access pass into the backstage of our souls, to have the courage to tell You what we are really feeling deep within, to express what You already see, to approach You with a zesty boldness, to believe, to really believe that what You say is real and true and that we don't have to worry or spin ourselves into a dizzied frenzy. God help us to really give You our burdens, to throw them off our backs into Your strong hands, to believe in our gut that You care, that You have an eye on us.

God help us. We are needy. You are quite capable.

Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to all who come to Him for protection. (Proverbs 30:5)

Amen.