God Meets Our Deepest Needs

Beyond our most basic needs on the physical level, each one of us has three very basic psychological needs---every human being has the need for (1) acceptance, (2) a sense of competence, and (3) confidence.  Once those needs are confirmed, we are ready to assume our role in the universe.  Until we have a deep-down assurance in these three areas, we cannot step forward with any strength to change or to improve our world.  God has sent His Spirit of Truth into the world, into our hearts, to convict us, to convince us, to meet our deepest psychological needs so that we can then become His gift to other people:

  When Jesus entered into His public ministry, He was openly inaugurated by John the Baptist, who proclaimed Him "the Lamb of God," the One John was sent to testify for, "the One Who existed before me."  John said, Now I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God.

At the baptism of Jesus, the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended, and a Voice from heaven proclaimed, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Before we ourselves can take up a public ministry, whether it is teaching, the realm of politics, or caring for infants, it is important that we have received within ourselves the approval, the affirmation from God that we ourselves are beloved, that we are His gift to others, that we are "sent" by Him to heal, to teach, to repair, to raise up, to tear down (see the call of Jeremiah, Chapter 1: 4-10).  Jeremiah knew that from his mother's womb, he had been appointed a prophet to the nations.

Once we know that God has accepted us, has appointed us, has sent us for a certain reason, we are not likely to be persuaded by the flattery or deceptions of men.  We know what we have to do; it is the Spirit in us that drives us forth.  We do not need or crave the approval of men; whether they criticize us or whether they flatter us, it makes little difference to our course of action.  I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing is our deepest feeling.  We know we could probably be earning more money, or pursuing fame, or whatever, but none of that appeals to us when we know we are on the appointed course for our lives.  We may not have put it in so many words, but we know deep down that God is pleased; we are about our Father's business. 

Such a man was Dag Hammarskjold, Secreatry-General to the United Nations from his election in 1953 to the time of his death in 1961.  An unlikely candidate to be in the public eye, H. was shy, retiring, and deeply spiritual.  His journal, published posthumously, revealed his deep commitment to God who summoned him to public ministry, and the integrity of his soul.  Knowing that he was beloved by God, and sent by God, he responded with every fiber of his being to the task he was given---to bring peace among nations.  He knew he would die fulfilling his mission, but he abandoned himself to the God who loved him beyond all measure.

This man was a saint, though not a canonized one.  His life shows the power of one who has accepted God's acceptance of his life, and who moves forward knowing that he is competent because God has made him so.  His confidence was in the power of God who sent him to the nations.  He knew that he would be given everything necessary to accomplish the task he had been given.

Without this sense that we are the Beloved, the Sent, the Prophet---in our own small ways, we are likely to be blown about by every wind of deceit and foolishness, swayed by the arguments and persuasions of man, open to bribes and flattery, and in the end, completly ineffective in our mission.  We may have confidence in our own abilities, but our confidence will be shattered and undermined by the betrayal of other men.  If God Himself is not our confidence, we cannot stand.