Is it really true that God already knows what you need?
Have you ever been praying for something that you really, really wanted and you never got it or it never happened?
And then, sometime later, you realized that what you had been praying for was really not the right thing for you to get or do?
I remember one time, while I was at my first job out of college, that a very unique opportunity came up that my manager at work recommended me for. I had an interview with the man who would be my boss and it seemed like the position was a really good fit and that I was a good fit for him. At the end of the interview, I was told very positively, “We’ll be in touch.”
I really wanted this new job, and my manager was fine with me leaving my current position to take this new one if it worked out.
I prayed so hard for this job
I prayed like I never had before. But, I have to be honest, I gave lip service to praying for God’s will to be done, but for the first week after the interview I could barely think of anything else. I really wanted this job. And my prayers were more focused on asking God to make everything work out so I would get it. Those weren’t the actual words of my prayer, but that was my underlying motive.
I felt this job would be part of my destiny to do great things in the world and make a contribution to my church. My head was full of all the great possibilities and opportunities that would come my way as a result.
But a week went by and I didn’t hear from anyone. Another week went by and still no one contacted me to offer the job. I honestly couldn’t believe it. Another week of silence. I was so discouraged and I started to feel this job might not be right for me. Over the next few days my attitude completely changed and I rationalized to myself that I did not really want this job.
I finally prayed for God’s will not mine
After a couple of more days, which seemed like a month, a little humility finally broke into my heart and my prayer was simply for God’s will to be done. I let go of the whole thing and finally got back to just living my life and appreciating the job I had.
Once I got this freedom in my heart from desperately wanting or reluctantly deciding the job was not right for me, I felt a sense of peace that I could trust the outcome to God.
I ended up writing the man who had interviewed me and briefly shared how I had first felt the position had been ordained for me by God, then deciding I didn’t want the job, and finally realizing I would be happy with whatever God’s will was.
This was way before the days of emails and texting. About a week later I received the most gracious letter from this man in the mail. He was surprised and apologized that no one had gotten back to me. He had never really felt he needed someone for this position but that his staff had persuaded him he should at least talk to someone about it.
He had decided to follow his own intuitions that he did not need anyone to work for him in this capacity. But he added that if he had decided to hire someone, he would have snapped me up in a heartbeat. That actually made me feel a lot better. He hadn’t rejected me. He just didn’t need someone to do what others had tried to convince him that he did.
In his letter, he invited me to visit him for lunch on his estate north of Boston. Over the next few months I ended up going to see him at least twice and I still have the encouraging letters he wrote me.
I got what I needed not what I wanted
I think he saw my potential, probably more than I did, and he wanted to encourage me. I had wanted to work for him was because he was a very spiritually minded man and I thought it would have been good for my spiritual growth.
And as it turns out, on one of our visits, he said something that was very, very helpful. It was more of a rebuke but was a powerful idea that has given me much to think and pray about over the years and which has blessed me immensely.
As we were talking during one of our visits I shared some of the struggles I was having at the time, and he said “Do you know what your problem is? You believe in more than one God.” Those weren’t his exact words, but that was the gist of it. He was right. I had made a god out of various things and influences in my life, and hadn’t realized it.
Looking back over this whole experience, I see that God knew exactly what I needed. I needed to learn that I had to trust His will and not just pray for what I wanted. I learned that I needed to quit giving god-status to things in my life other than God Himself.
So I didn’t get what I prayed for, but I certainly got what I needed.
I don’t know how many people who have told me this same thing. They don’t always get what they pray for but the get what they needed. This is true so often on an individual basis as well as collectively, at church, for example.
God already knows what you need
The Bible is full of situations where God gave people what they needed. There are way too many to mention them all, but just think of the Ten Commandments in that light.
God knew we needed a guiding principles in our lives, and the Ten Commandments certainly fill that function.
And this verse from Psalms really sums up what God gives us because it’s what we really need way down deep.
For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:9 NKJV
Think of your hungry soul being filled with goodness. All the material things the world says we need to be successful or happy will never give us the satisfaction that comes from God filling us with His goodness.
God “fills the hungry soul with goodness.”
God gives you what you need
Think of everything this includes. God gives us what we need way down deep at a fundamental level, satisfying our longing and hunger for goodness and worth. And it always comes from God, not from ourselves or any external situation or object.
And speaking of filling the hungry soul, here’s one more quick example in the Old Testament of how God met the needs of the Israelites.
After they had left Egypt and were wandering in the wilderness, God sent manna and quail to sustain them. He provided water from rocks. The people got what they needed on the surface, but what they really needed was to learn obedience to God. That came a little more slowly. In fact, you could say it took 40 years, or looking at the whole scope of the Bible, it took thousands of years. Well, actually, mankind still has a long way to go in obeying God consistently.
As I said, the Old Testament is full of examples of God meeting peoples’ needs. And the prophets share glimpses of a coming Messiah that will meet mankind’s needs as nothing else could.
And this is exactly what Jesus brought to the table, so to speak.
God knew we needed Jesus
Here’s the thing. God knew we needed the Messiah. He knew we needed the message Jesus brought. He knew we needed to learn how to be like Jesus. He knew we needed to embrace the mind of Christ. And so God sent Jesus to show the Way and be the Way of salvation.
God knew what we needed and He gave it to us.
Jesus was in such close communication with God, he was crystal clear as to what the people he ministered to needed.
And what people needed then is pretty much the same that you and I need today.
Jesus gave us what God knew we needed
Jesus knew people, then and now, needed a spiritual shepherd, someone to guide us, speak and act with authority about God, His love for mankind, and the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus knew we all need to be encouraged and comforted, healed and forgiven, and sometimes rebuked and reformed. He knew we needed to love each other and ourselves.
Jesus knew the people of his day needed to see concrete proofs of God’s love for them and convincing evidence that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. We need all these things today as well.
Jesus didn’t come to make sure someone got a new wagon, a bigger house, or an important position in the Temple in Jerusalem or the local synagogue. All too often, people then and now, think that’s what they need. We get what we need mixed up with what we want, just like I did with that job I wanted but didn’t get.
The Messiah they wanted versus the Messiah they got
And speaking of Jesus being the Son of God, the Jewish people were full of expectations and anticipation of the coming Messiah. They wanted the Messiah to come. And yes, they needed the Messiah, but their preconceptions of how the Messiah would come spoke more of what they wanted than what they really needed.
When it comes right down to it, they wanted and expected a Messiah who would come in earthly power to defeat the Romans occupying their land. They wanted the kingdom of Israel to be reestablished as a geopolitical kingdom as in the time of David and Solomon. Those were their hopes and dreams.
It was pretty much a nationalistic approach to their religion.
But their preconceptions of what they wanted were not the Messiah or the kingdom they needed. They needed a Messiah who would resist the temptations of Satan instead of being influenced by the ways of the world.
The real occupying force in Israel at that time was not the Roman Empire. It was the world’s materialistic and sinful way of thinking and living. It was self-righteousness and the pride of power. That’s the kingdom Jesus came to deliver people from. The kingdom he came to establish, which is what the people actually needed, was a spiritual kingdom of God and His righteousness that was invisible to the five material senses and he human intellect.
God already knows what you need the most: His kingdom
Jesus said as clearly as he possibly could in the Sermon on the Mount,
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33 NKJV
That was good advice 2,000 years ago and it’s good advice today.
The fact that Jesus told us to prioritize seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, implies that’s what we need the most. It may not at first seem like what we want the most. But it is absolutely what we need the most. And the more we realize it’s what we need, it becomes what we want as well.
Based on what Jesus said and did, and knowing that he was giving people what they really needed, what does that tell us about what those needs were?
I’ve mentioned the fact they needed the Messiah and to prioritize God’s kingdom. They also needed to hear the good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That’s why Jesus preached.
We need what people in the Bible needed
They needed a righteous person, John the Baptist, for example, preaching the need for repentance. Jesus reemphasized this need to repent, to have a new way of thinking, a complete change of base in their thinking from a material, worldly perspective to a spiritual one.
Jesus knew the people needed someone to walk the extra mile and explain what the kingdom of heaven was like in ways they could understand. That’s what the parables were all about. They needed to hear a more spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures.
Jesus knew they needed someone, who practiced what he preached, to speak with authority to them. They needed someone to heal them and to forgive their sins.
They needed to see a righteous man fearlessly rebuke the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They needed to see someone whose spiritual priorities were never compromised.
They needed to see Jesus overcome death, and as a result, ultimately prove evil to be powerless.
We all need the Holy Spirit and the Bible
And Jesus was acutely aware of their need for the Comforter, the Counselor, or Helper, depending on what Bible translation you prefer. He knew his followers would always need the Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
And right along with that, Jesus knew we would always need the words he spoke. He was absolutely certain that his words would always be available.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:35 NIV
And we have his words in the Gospels today
All these things Jesus did and said were gifts from God, hand delivered by Jesus. But not everyone accepted these gifts with the same amount of receptivity.
Christ is giving these same gifts from God to you and me today. Because…we need these very same things the people did who Jesus ministered to.
Your favorite Bible story
Look at your favorite stories in the Bible and see what God did: how He delivered people, gave them food and shelter, guided and protected them, rebuked them, and healed them.
In whatever story you’re reading, God did what was needed. How does the way God meets a particular need in a Bible story apply to you? Do you see any parallels?
The underlying needs of these folks thousands of years ago are pretty much what you and I need today.
God already knows what you need. It may not be what you want or what you think you need. But God knows what you need, what you actually need, better than anyone else. Jesus reassures us on this very point.
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:7, 8 NIV
If God already knows what you need, why doesn’t He just give it to you? Well, sometimes He does, but usually it’s important for us to ask because that helps us remember that God is the source of all the blessings we have.
What do you really need?
The next time you pray for something you think you really need, take a fresh look at what you’re asking for? Is it just something you want really bad? Are you asking for things? Or are you asking to know God better? Are you asking for what you want or are you asking God what He wants for you?
I’m going to close with this verse from Matthew which I just quoted, but it’s a powerful reminder of how Jesus wants us to approach God in prayer.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33 NKJV
God already knows what you need.
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Psalm 107:9 NKJV
9 For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Matthew 6:33 NKJV
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 24:35 NIV
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Matthew 6:7, 8 NIV
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
