Who Needs God?

Who needs God?

All sorts of people need God.

Psalm 107 tells us about people who suffered from emotional distress or fainting hearts. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distress. (v. 6 KJV)

Other people experienced calamities, financial troubles, and lost hopes. These also fell down . . . Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. (v. 13)

Still others were afflicted by physical disease. And so, they also, cry unto the Lord in their trouble. And He saved them out of their distresses. (v. 19)

And finally, some lived with physical danger, typified by those who go down to the sea in ships. . . . (v. 23) And they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. (v, 28)

All sorts of people can recognize God’s desire to save sinners. Yes, especially and specifically the people who know they are sinners. The people of the psalm lived with an understanding of judgment for their sin. But they also knew God could redeem them—could salvage their lives.

Only God can do the impossible.

Originally published December 6, 1991.
Picture: Como Park, St. Paul, MN 2009. Photo by Solveig.

Old Testament Law

Many laws given to the Israelites during their time in the Wilderness seem strange or even foolish to us, but they all had a purpose.

Some laws protected the Israelites by instituting important sanitation regulations—using a shovel when they relieved themselves, etc. Dietary restrictions identified animals that carried harmful diseases. (Lev. 11) Laws affected the way people handled their resources. They were instructed to offer hospitality, and no one should profit from another person’s misfortune. (Lev. 25)

Laws also depicted the concept of holiness. Because worshipping one God must have seemed strange to people who had been immersed in the polytheism of Egypt, God gave the Israelites concrete examples as teaching tools to illustrate purity. They should not plant two types of seed in one field or make garments from two types of material. (Lev. 19)

And laws set godly standards of mercy: Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind . . . Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great. . . . (19:14a,15a NIV)

Many of the laws established in Leviticus seem strange to us today. But God had a purpose. With those laws He established standards among His people.

Originally published February 17, 1984, and July 5, 1991.
Picture: Potted plants on the deck, 2009. Photo by Solveig.