Your dad said it to you, and you’ve said it to your kids. “You don’t need it, you want it. There’s a difference.” You were both right. The distinction between needs and wants is a lesson that all children must learn. A brightly colored, plastic toy conspicuously placed at a child’s eye level is not a need. Our pattern is to teach the child the lesson and then buy it anyway, joyfully satisfying the want. It pleases us to please them.
Ideally, as children mature, they begin to distinguish between the two and come to appreciate the love of a parent. As God’s child, what is your perspective of what God gives? King David, the author of Psalm 16, tells us that God does, in fact, make the distinction between needs and wants. In a psalm about God’s faithfulness to His people, David points out God’s fidelity toward providing for His children’s needs. Verse five reads, “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.”
“Chosen portion” is not a phrase we use regularly, but it is the author’s way of describing the amount we are allotted. Just as we allocate the amount that our children are to receive, so God has given each of us the amount that was earmarked for us. He fills our needs. The same verbiage is used in other verses:
The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words. (Ps. 119:57)
I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” (Ps. 142:5)
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lam. 3:24)
In different ways each of these describes how God is all that we need. He personally covers any spiritual, physical, financial and emotional shortages that are genuine needs. Because He has faithfully filled those needs we promise to keep His word. We can call out to God, being reassured that He is a refuge during those times of need. Because He is our portion, we have hope! All our needs are met in our God!
Yet, there’s more! After the assurance in Psalm 16:5 that He is our chosen portion, it says in verse six, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” After acknowledging the security that God’s faithfulness ensures, the psalmist recognizes we have much more. Lines falling in pleasant places is a reference to property boundaries. God has not just given His children (figuratively) a plot of land on which to exist, He has given them a delightfully enjoyable space where they can serve Him. To put it another way, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” Our Shepherd has given us a fruitful piece of lakeside property from which to do His work.
At the risk of sounding like an infomercial I’ll add, “But wait, there’s more!” People joke about opening the mailbox with the hope of unexpectedly receiving a lump sum of money from an estranged uncle. As thrilling as that sounds, it doesn’t compare to the “beautiful inheritance” that Christians have in store. On the cross Jesus described it to the criminal beside Him as “paradise.” God tells us through the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those that love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). The popular song “I Can Only Imagine” is not quite right. According to the prophet and the apostle, you can’t even imagine what God has prepared for us! There aren’t enough zeroes on that uncle’s check that could compare with the glory that is waiting for us.
In Revelation 2:10 and James 1:12 we’re told we will receive a “crown of life.” In 1 Corinthians 9:25 we’ll be given an “imperishable wreath.” In 2 Timothy 4:8 we have laid up for us a “crown of righteousness” and in 1 Peter 5:4 we’re promised we will receive an “unfading crown of glory.”
This puts needs and wants into an entirely new perspective! We have no justification for discontent as God is our portion, filling our every need. We have many reasons to be filled with thankfulness because the lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. We have been given so many good things! And our hearts can overflow with hopeful expectation for the beautiful inheritance that is being prepared for us! “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” Let’s be the mature, appreciative, contented, thankful, hopeful child God is raising us to be.