The believers at Laodicea seemed to have been confused about their condition and status in life.  They wrongly believed that their opulence reflected their spiritual condition.  They were rich and had become wealthy, and so concluded that they had need of nothing.

How many of us have been blinded to our need by the false sense of security that can be derived from pleasant circumstances. 

• We just got a raise.
• All the family is healthy.
• If things got any better I’d have to be in heaven.

Abram

When God called Abram out of Ur, He also gave him a promise:

“And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2).

In Genesis 13:2, we are given evidence that God was fulfilling His promise to Abram.

“Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.”

But there is a problem.  Abram, the altar builder of Genesis 12:7 and 12:8 is confronted by a severe famine that threatens his security.  In an attempt to preserve himself we are told “Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there”. While there, he lied to Pharaoh about Sarah and thereby jeopardizes Sarah’s safety and the welfare of Pharaoh’s entire house.

“…the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife” (12:17).

Your circumstances today may suggest that you are above such behavior.  You would never go down to Egypt or to lying to preserve yourself.  May I tell you that such an attitude is rooted in ignorance and arrogance, and not strength.  We never know what we will do until we are, like Abram, confronted by a severe famine.

Abram is brought to his senses by Pharaoh’s rebuke and his expulsion from Egypt.  It is an embarrassed exile that makes his way back to the altar he had built in Bethel.

“So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev...as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar, which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 13:1, 3, 4).

Great relationships with God are usually birthed out of great failures that bring us face to face with our great need for God.

Peter

It was during the Passover meal that Jesus warned His disciples, “You will all fall away because of Me this night…” (Mt. 26:31).  Peter’s response, “Everyone else may, but I will never fall away” (26:33).  Easy to say when you’re in a pleasant place where your security isn’t threatened—“I will never fall away.”  I will never go down to Egypt.  Others may, but not me!

Really?  Jesus’ response to Peter was, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a cock crows, you shall deny Me three times” (26:34). 

Peter’s prideful response was, “Even if I must die with You, I will not deny You.” (26:35).

It’s useless to argue with a fool who refuses to own his weakness, his humanity, and his frailty.

But it is Matthew who gives us the truth of the matter in 26:69-75.  Peter doesn’t deny Jesus just once, he does it three times and then remembering the words which Jesus had spoken to him, “he went out and wept bitterly” (26:75).

It is this broken man that Jesus ministers to on the beach.  (See John 21:15-17.) 

In our self-assured pride we do the same thing Peter did—“Others may, but not me.” 

The Storm

In the scene in Matthew 14:22-33, the self-sufficiency of the disciples is being tested by a storm.  They are doing their best to stay afloat in a storm that is determined to end their lives.  Their best efforts are merely postponing the inevitable.  It is then that Jesus comes to them walking on the water.  They are convinced that He is merely some apparition come to do them harm.  Their fearful cry was, “It is a ghost!” (Mt. 14:26).  Jesus’ response was, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid” (Mt. 14:17).  Our friend Peter challenged Jesus saying, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (14:28).   

Why didn’t Peter say, “Lord, if it’s You, command the storm to be still”?  Why did he ask Jesus to invite him out on the storm tossed waves of the sea?  Could his statement have been sourced in pride?  Was the heart flaw that led to his denial of Jesus being manifest in the midst of this storm? 

Matthew tells us that Jesus’ response was “COME!”  He goes on to say, “Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, ‘LORD, SAVE ME!’” (14:30). 

The storm had brought Peter face to face with his tremendous need for Jesus.  “Lord, save me!” 

I recently heard a friend of mine preach on this passage and he said something I think work repeating.  He said, “When Peter began to sink, he didn’t look to the boat for help but to Jesus.”  A man in a storm will always look to the source he believes can save him.  Peter cried out to Jesus!  Where are you looking to for help?

The Psalmist said, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God for help…” (Psalm 18:6)

Unfortunately, we don’t face our need for God until we find ourselves in distress, sinking in some stormy sea.  It is then that we acknowledge how much we need HIM. 

The Truth of The Matter

Solomon’s father, David has died and Solomon is now king.  In his prayer to God he says, “…I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in….So give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people to discern between good and evil….And it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing” (1Kings 3:7, 9, 10).

Perhaps Jesus had Solomon in mind when He answered His disciples question.  They had asked Him, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?”  In response He called a child to Himself and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me” (Mt. 18:1-6).

Storms and crisis moments may press us to acknowledge our need for God, but if the truth is known we need Him every moment of every day.

E. M. Bounds, in one of his books on prayer, relates the story told to him by a friend of his who was a hunter. 

Rising early one morning, he said, "I heard the barking of a number of dogs chasing a deer. Looking at a large open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across the field and giving signs that its race was almost run. It leaped over the rails of the enclosed place and crouched within ten feet of where I stood. A moment later two of the hounds came over, and the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. Just then I felt that all the dogs in the West could not and would not capture that fawn after it in its weakness had appealed to my strength.”

So is it when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. I remember well when the hounds of sin were after my soul that at last I ran into the arms of Almighty God. [1]

God isn’t looking for strong men, but for weak men and women who need Him and know it.  Our prayerlessness is indicative of a false sense of self-sufficiency. 

Our need for God is not something unique to famines and storms.  We need Him now!  Every hour of every day we need Him.  The truth is, we need Him but we just don’t realize it until we find ourselves without the resources to survive the storm or the famine.  The famine and the storm do not create the need.  To the contrary, they reveal the need.  They reveal our weakness our impotence and our need for Him!

I invite those of you who recognize how much you need God to join me in these altars for a time of acknowledging our dependence upon Him.

For those of you who do not recognize your need for God, I invite you to come and ask God to give you an awareness of your great need for Him.  I invite you to ask Him to give you gold tried in the fire, salve for your eyes and apparel for your nakedness.  I call us to repent and turn from any sense of self-sufficiency and admit that we do not know how to come in or go out without His help.

Gospel singer, Smokie Norful picked up on this theme in his song I Need You Now.  In it he declares:

You may not be able to say or sing it like Smokie Norful, but it is the cry of your unveiled heart tonight—“I need you now…not another second or another minute…not another hour of another day…but, Lord, I need You right away”---If that describes you, will you join me tonight and together we will take the closing moments of this service to acknowledge, not if, but how much we need our Jesus!