Desperate for God

by Keith Gardner

As we allow the Holy Spirit to sift through our thoughts, actions and motivations it doesn’t take long to realize that our strengths, talents and natural abilities often get in the way of what God wants to do. We rely on those gifts of birth to get us through difficult times instead of allowing God to be our source of help. It is our very strength that becomes our weakness when dealing with spiritual matters. Our talents quite naturally cause blind spots; not allowing us to see how truly desperate we are. It is the Spirit of Laodicea that blinds us to our real poverty (Revelation 3:14-22).

The instructions on how to walk in the Spirit are impossible to understand without spiritual eyes and ears. As Jesus’ ministry was winding down he began to talk about the difficulties of following him. Many did not like his teachings and turned away. (John 6:45-66). Contrast that by those who realized their own desperation and refused to allow anything to get in the way of getting to Jesus. Zacchaeus, too short to see through the crowd, climbed a tree in order to see the Lord. His reward was to spend the evening with him (Luke 19:1-6). In Mark 2:1-12 we read of men trying to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed. The crowd was too thick so they went to the roof of the house Jesus was in and tore open a hole to lower him inside. His reward? Jesus forgave him of his sins and sent him walking home. Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell the story of the women who had suffered with a bleeding problem for twelve years. Again, the thronging crowd would not let her through. So she got down on her hand and knees and crawled to him. Her reward was complete healing.

It is when we see our true desperation, our own hopelessness that we are finally ready to allow God to do in our lives what He has been waiting to do all along. As we sit our gifts of birth aside God picks them up, blesses them and hands them back. Now empowered by the Holy Spirit we are ready to rely on Jesus to use our strengths for His glory and His purpose.