God Meets Our Needs Part 2: His Guidance and Our Obedience

One of the ways God longs to fulfill our needs is by quenching the fiery thirst of our souls. In Isaiah 55:1-3, Jesus invites us to come and receive this nourishment from Him:

 

Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.

 

Notice something. The Holy Spirit promises to satisfy our souls by our simply coming to Him. We don’t have to work, earn, or strive to fulfill our souls. All we have to do is come.

 

Notice, too, that all we have to do to receive Christ’s abundant life is to listen: “Listen, and you will eat what is good…. Listen, and you will find life.” God promises that as we listen to Him, we will enter into an “everlasting covenant” with Him and receive the “unfailing love [He] promised to David.”

 

However, we must choose to obey whatever God tells us when we listen to Him. Only then will we find true life. As Deuteronomy 30:19-20 describes,

 

‘Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’

 

When we obey God, we are declaring that we trust in Him to do what is best for us. We are honoring Him by pledging our love and devotion to Him. Furthermore, we are opening up the floodgates for the Lord’s blessings to pass through! This includes the covenant promise that He made to Abraham. The “everlasting covenant” and the “unfailing love [God] promised to David” in Isaiah 55:3, as well as the “land the LORD swore to give [to] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” in Deuteronomy 30:20, reference God’s covenant with Abraham.

 

What was God’s promise to Abraham, you may ask? God promised Abraham that he would have innumerable descendants—an everlasting heritage—and that all the land of the Canaanites would become theirs (See Genesis 15). Once we were born again, we were included in this promise. This is because Romans 4:17 tells us that those who believe in Christ are Abraham’s descendants.

 

Why should we care that we are included in this covenant promise? It may seem irrelevant to be considered the descendant of one who lived so long ago or to be the inheritor of some Middle Eastern land. But God’s promise to give Abraham that land further represents His promise to restore us into our inheritance and enjoyment of all the good things He made. It was to restore life to God’s original intention, as it was in the Garden of Eden. Furthermore, God’s promise that Abraham would have innumerable descendants meant that countless people would experience life the way God intended it. The Lord’s covenant is the ultimate seal of His redemption of humanity. In fact, the Father sealed His covenant with us by placing the Holy Spirit, the complete Essence of God the Father and God the Son, into us “as God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised”! (See Eph. 1:14) Thus, God’s covenant with Abraham is a cornerstone of our faith. It removes all doubt that God wants to meet our needs!

 

Nevertheless, we will only willingly obey the Lord and receive His covenant promises if we believe that He wants what is best for us. Thus, if we are having a hard time obeying God, we need to increase our faith and belief in Him. How can we do this? By intentionally thinking about God’s promises and what He has faithfully done in the past.

 

Stay tuned for how increasing our faith and belief in God provides the Father the opportunity to meet our needs!

 

 

*Unless otherwise noted, all scripture references are from the New Living Translation.

 

 

Works Cited

 

New Living Translation. BibleGateway, Accessed 17 Feb. 2024.