Needing Nothing But God

When we want, need and have nothing but God, our lives finally agree and desire is quenched. That, of course, is the theory. Shelving our desire is much harder, and it’s only sustainability achieved when we learn to surrender to the Spirit of God in our moments of temptation. Even then, many find themselves betwixt in their desires and hopelessly given to their sin. We all suffer suchlike however maximally or minimally.

Desire is a pawn in the hand of so many evil forces that contort the need in our desire past desire’s fulfilment.

So, what makes the theory of desire stabilisation more practical? Two critical factors come into play: the moment and the power encapsulated in God’s Spirit.

The Moment And Power

Subjects as these—control over desire—are subjects of the moment. We can only control our moments, and, only truly, in the power of the Lord.

Beyond these two is eternal frustration. When we attempt to control more than just the moment, by planning ahead too much or by remaining bitter about our pasts, for instance, or when we do things under our own steam, not resting on God’s power, we doom ourselves to failure.

When we start out with the desire to control life, first we must reconcile a solemn surrender before God. Needing nothing but God is wholly contingent on surrender.

Otherwise we are dreaming.

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When we want and need nothing, in that moment, because that’s all we’ve got control over, we’ve agreed we have nothing, in that moment, but God. More than this, we agree that God is right to his Word; everything, bar nothing, is insignificant in comparison to the Lord of creation, life, eternity.

Yet, this is a hard thing to accept. Do our families, our possessions, our jobs, and everything we hold dear, mean nothing? Of course not. God knows we need these things. But ‘need’ becomes a very abstract concept about now. We begin to shift around on our seats, nervously squirming because our concepts of need are challenged.

We need nothing but God, but God knows we need more. Still, we’re given to guilt for desiring things, both good and bad. We may forget that God is our Provider—Jehovah Jireh.

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Needing nothing but God infers control over our moments—for nothing else reigns over us. Needing nothing but God requires surrender. And when we surrender we realise that God has already given us everything we need.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.