Thoughts on Neediness

We all need the love of Jesus.

“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” 1 Samuel 2:8 (NIV)

As a teen I heard the term “needy” used to describe those who were without certain basic material belongings. Reflecting on those years, I only heard the word used in November and December.

As a young adult, I attended a Women’s Missionary Group that visited the county ‘poor farm’ from time to time. The group decided to visit at a time of the year other than Christmas. While I understood the thinking, it became clearer when one of the administrators of the children’s home down the road the road from where we lived told me that the residents there ‘got Christmased to death.’ By this, he meant that every civic group in the area visited during the Christmas season.

As a regular attendee of a growing church, I noticed the prayer sheet given out twice a week-on Wednesdays as well as Sundays. The names are those of members, constituents, and their friends. These people are from all age groups and all walks of life. The one thing binding these names together is their need for prayer.

We all are a needy people. Whether it is a healing touch from God, His guidance through a circumstance in our lives, or His presence in our lives, we all need the Lord.

Have you ever been in a public place and watched people as they pass by? Studied their faces, their stance, how they walk? Spoken to them? Listened to them as they conversed with others? Sent up a silent pray for these people? I should do this more than I do. I will start as a part of my goals for 2012.

Sometimes we learn more about people by watching them than by talking with them. How they behave in certain situations, how they respond to others. Do they show respect? We can learn things about people that are things we have to learn to live with and work around.