There was once a young man, and he was by nature a dreamer and idealist. His name was Nathanael. He was something like many of us, for he used to wish that the world were a better place, and that men were more loving to each other, and that instead of a world of cut-throat competition and greed and graft and selfishness, there could be mutual cooperation and mutual confidence, and a loving sharing.
Above all, he wished that a King could come who would lead men to a new happy and peaceful life. He probably wished, too, that his own life were more peaceful and happy and content than seemed possible living in that day and age.
And then a golden moment of a long summer day was made eternal, for he found his King. His brother found him sitting under a fig tree and brought him to Jesus, and Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you—when you were under the fig tree—I knew you.”
And there was another who lived at that same time, and near the same place. He yearned too, but in a different way and for a different thing. For his was a physical need. He was crippled. But he never quite lost hope that he would be healed. He used to wait beside a pool called Siloam, and which was supposed to have magical properties of healing.
Though he never lost hope in eventually being healed, he must have nearly lost hope in human nature when he saw the masses of struggling people bent upon getting into the water of the pool at the time when the water was supposed to release its healing properties, looking at no one and helping only themselves.
He sounded wistful and depressed when he said to Jesus, “I have no one to help me.”
But his hope was rewarded, for the Lord spoke to him, and he answered, and his need was met.
There was yet another, and her need was desperate. She was condemned to death for a sin which was reckoned at that time to be the greatest of all. The fact that her sin was adultery is hardly relevant, for other sins that Jesus threw into relief blight the soul and life no less.
But Jesus was called up to witness the depravity of this girl, and invited to pass judgement upon her. He sent her away forgiven and clean.
Jesus met the needs of these and many more.
Paul was one of these. His need was desperate too, for he was in prison, and death lay at the end of the imprisonment. And yet he can tell the Church to rejoice, in spite of all it has to bear.
He says:
“My God shall supply all your need with an abundance limited only by His own riches. He shall supply it by His glorious presence in the person of Messiah Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
Arising from this text, there are certain facts.
1. Every one has his particular needs.
It may be some physical need—but more often it is spiritual and mental.
It may be some physical weakness or deformity that preys upon our mind.
It may be anxiety and fear that some physical weakness may get the better of us.
It may be an emotional problem that has tangled up our minds and complicated our lives.
It may be a temperamental failing of which we are clearly aware—such as impatience, intolerance, indecision, discontent, or covetousness.
It may be some emotional need—care, love, sympathy, understanding, acceptance.
It may be relief from the gnawing guilt of some failure in our character, or some sin of our hand.
It may be a spiritual need of faith.
It may be an indefinable yearning to touch reality and find the eternal in the temporal. One of old said, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.”
We may be conscious of a restless spirit yearning for a home, catching a fleeting glimpse of reality occasionally, or touching it for an instant, but having it slip away, when some golden moment of enchantment gives place again to the weariness of the daily round.
I could go on—but you do not need more than a few moments of reflection to feel your need. And for some of us a great need cries now for some answer. Like Nathanael, or the man at the pool, or the woman, or Paul.
2. God knows our need.
Do you remember the startling words of Jesus to Nathanael:
“Before Philip called you—when you were under the fig tree—I knew you.”
Our Lord Himself reassures us that not a sparrow falls to the ground without God the Father knowing about it.
The woman at the well.
The young man who wanted eternal life.
The man on the pallet.
The adulteress.
To each of them He could say, “I know you.”
“My daughter ...”
“Yes, I know.”
How tenderly Christ must look at us when we try to pour out our deep soul’s need to Him, and how He must sorrow when our lips are grimly set, and our minds refuse even to consider that our Lord might be aware of our condition.
There is a text in Isaiah 63:9:
“In all their affliction He was afflicted.”
We forget that Christ walked this earth. There is a verse:
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with every feeling of our infirmity; but was in all points tempted as we are—yet without sin.”
Christ knows, and you can be sure that when there are tears in our eyes, there is sorrow in His heart.
3. He can satisfy that need.
Paul says:
“He shall fill up the measure of all your need, with an abundance limited only by His own riches.”
We know that God’s riches are unlimited; therefore our deepest need shall be filled up.
But let us not expect a ready-made answer.
There is the story of the poor honest man who was given a magic mill—which he passed on to his grasping, needy brother—who finally, with his life made miserable and broken, begged that it be taken away.
So it would be with us all if we were given everything we wanted. It would be a matter of, “Lord, answer this one need, and I will praise Thee always”—but with the answer would come another.
In the marriage prayer:
“Grant them such prosperity as may be best for them.”
Paul himself had a desperate need. He calls it “the thorn in his flesh.” He prayed earnestly for the Lord to remove it, but...
Paul almost triumphantly tells us that the Lord did not remove the thorn. But there is no doubt that a deeper need, which was the root of the apparent one, was met; for Paul found a deeper life through his experience.
We think that his trouble was with his eyes. He had to use a secretary to complete his letters—Timothy, Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus, Titus, Lucas, Tychicus.
We think of his imprisonment, and his work there. How the whole Praetorian Guard heard the gospel and carried it to the four corners of the Empire.
It is probably that which makes Paul emphasise the wisdom of the means which God uses in the provision of all our needs.
He shall supply it by His glorious presence in the person of Messiah Jesus.
The physical need, the seemingly obvious answer, is often not the right answer.
“Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins be forgiven you,’ or ‘Take up your bed and walk’—but that ye might know that the Son of Man has power...”
We have established that God knows our need, and He has the power to meet it—but there is one thing needed.
4. There were distinctive features about every case which Christ met.
In each there was a genuine desire to overcome the trouble, which led to a response to Christ.
Nathanael could have said, “Yes? Come and sit down under the fig tree and tell me.”
The paralytic met Christ’s enquiry with an intense answer.
The woman, by her very silence, seems to convey the impression of a pleading look.
Paul took up his pen and he said, “See with what large letters I write.”
Are we sincerely desiring relief?
Will we be willing to put ourselves in the hands of this Lord who can give us our needs?
There is the story told in A Tale of Two Cities of a man who had been confined in the Bastille for twenty years and was now free, but preferred to live in a dark garret under lock and key, a prisoner still.
The Lord is there. His answer is before us. He knows, and He waits for us to respond.
The provision will be made and the need met.
The minister who used to write letters to God.
