ok … i want to give a shout out to Rev. Hills for pointing out a link that i’ll be using as the crux of this ssa … it’s a sermon he’d given probably 15 years ago and has really stuck with me … i gotta ask … how often do you get what you want only to find out, weeeeelllllll …. what I NEEEDEED WAAASSSS …. or, when we were ranglin’ a teenager a decade ago, “want” and “need” definitely had different meanings (let’s be honest, they still do!) … you know, the same thing happens with Him ??? but, the cool thing is, God always TRIES to give us BOTH what we WANT and what we NEED as long as it doesn’t hurt our fool selves … let’s look at our buddy Jacob … you see, he was gobsmacked over this gal he’d seen, Rachel, and had worked out a deal with her dad to marry her (hey, it was a thing back then, don’t judge!) … he promised to work 7 years for Leban for his daughter’s hand, but, on the day of the wedding, Leban pulled a fast one and due to some legal shenanigans, Jacob found himself married to Leah, Rachel’s older sister … now, back then, it was customary to have more than one wife, so, after he got over being hurt for the tomfoolery, he worked another 7 years and ended up with the set of sisters … now, why am i mentioning this ??? well, here’s a little secret, Jacob was especially fond of Rachel, there’s no denying that, but, guess what, Jesus came from, you guessed it, Leah’s line … so, while God did give Jacob what he wanted, he made sure to give him what he needed as well !!! … when we get married or go to worship, let’s face it, as Paul McCartney had once said, all we need is love, but, God will usually provide more if we let him 😊 … just a thought from a guy that was lucky enough to get to marry my girl twice, once in the Chapel in the Garden and then again in the Garden Chapel ….

Bible Verses

Genesis 29:15-31 / Matthew 1:1-17

Questions

Have you ever gotten what you “needed” and not what you wanted and were thankful for it ??? How about a time where you got both what you wanted AND what you needed ??? Lastly, how about a time where what you really NEEDED was to NOT get what you wanted ???