Your Father Knows What You Need....

"Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him." (Matthew 6:8) 1. God knows all things. We call this aspect of God’s character his omniscience. It speaks to the fact that because God is God, he knows all things that could be known-past, present, and future-and he knows them all at the same time. That means that God is never surprised and that he never learns anything new.  2. God has committed himself to provide for his people. In fact, I think we can state the position even more forcefully than that. God wants to provide for us, he intends to provide for us, and he will provide what we need. In Phillipians 4:19, Paul assures us that “God will meet all your needs,” which is the New Testament version of Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The whole record of the Bible teaches us that God is the Great Provider, which is why one of his divine names is Jehovah Jireh-“The LORD will provide” (Genesis 22:14). 3. God has invited us to bring our needs to him. We are told to ask, to seek, to knock. (Matthew 7:7) Why? Ask and it shall be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened unto you. In Psalm 81:10, the Lord promises, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” This is where prayer becomes intensely personal. Our Heavenly Father-who already knows our needs-invites us to make our needs known through prayer.  4. God knows what we need before we ask him. Matthew 6:8 says this very plainly: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” That means we don’t have to impress God, use big words, or pray long prayers. We don’t have to repeat ourselves when we pray and worry about getting all the details correct or throw in flowery language when we pray. Since God knows us through and through, he knows our needs better than we do. When you pray, you aren’t informing God of anything. He knew your need before you bowed your head.  Let me say that another way. God doesn’t need the information we give him, but he encourages us to give him the information anyway.

Perhaps an illustration would help. Picture a father watching his four-year-old daughter trying to put together a puzzle. She tries and tries but she just can’t get the pieces in the right place. Her father watches with great interest but he doesn’t interfere. Finally, she comes over and crawls in his lap and says, “Daddy, would you help me put my puzzle together?” He smiles and bends down and together they begin to pick up each piece. One by one they put the puzzle together.

Now why didn’t the father help his daughter earlier? For one thing, she didn’t ask for his help. For another, he wanted her to try on her own. And most of all, he wanted her to ask him for his help. When she did, he was honored and gladly helped her finish the puzzle.

Is this not a picture of how our Heavenly Father deals with his children? Although he longs to come to our aid, often he waits until we specifically ask him. Sometimes he wants us to come to the end of our own pitiful resources before he intervenes. When we cry out in despair, he is honored as we express our complete dependence upon him.
 "Tell God what you know He knows in order that you may get to know it as He does." (O.Chambers)