The Purpose of Need

Psalm 34:4-8

4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.

8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Special focus on verse 6

  1. God creates a need
  2. We are motivated to cry to the Lord for help
  3. He will (of course) hear (actually, He knew we were going to cry out before we cried out, so of course he hears when we do.  Therefore “hear” here implies that He is actually listening to our petition
  4. He will save out of all his troubles (of course this will be the case, because since He created the original need for the purpose of us seeking Him, He will of course fulfill the need at the end – otherwise, there would have been in His goodness no purpose for creating the original need)
  5. The outcome of this is that not only do we get our need fulfilled, but we get the added bonus of having more of Him through being forced to seek Him in the fulfillment of the need.  The alternative is to simply have our need fulfilled with no real further engagement with Him
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