My Greatest Need

It’s 2 am and feet that belong to my 6 year old are in my face, I just fed and tried to burp our baby boy who keeps grunting in his crib threatening to wake up again. If he wakes up then our 7 year old sleeping across the hall may wake up also.  I am tired….no I mean very TIRED. I put our baby back in his crib then hop back into bed because my greatest need is SLEEP right?..... Wrong….my greatest need is Jesus! Yes even in the middle of the night. Yes no matter how I feel, I need Him more than sleep; more than oxygen….I need Him. In fact I will never stop needing Him.

How often do I miss out, because in the moment I feel my need is something other than Him? Yes I’m awake at 2 am but so is He. In fact He never sleeps nor slumbers and it’s….QUIET. No one pulling my attention here and there, no children fussing or hollering, no TV…It’s just me and Him. What a perfect opportunity He has given me, yet often I rush off to sleep like my life depends on it. Oh God help me to be fully dependent upon You!

I am so thankful His mercies are new every morning and I’m sure Peter was too. I love in John 21 where Peter and some of the other disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing. This was after Jesus’ resurrection and also after Peter “the rock” denied our Lord three times.

So Peter has been up all night and caught nothing. Jesus stands on the shore that morning and tells them to cast the net on the other side. I’m sure they were tired and ready to give up and ready for rest, but they obeyed and were amazed by the number of fish that were in the net.  John spoke and said “It is the Lord.” Peter hearing this grabs his outer garment and jumps in the water and swims to shore. Scripture tells us they were not far from shore, so he didn’t have to jump in and get wet but he did have to see Jesus! He couldn’t put it off a moment longer. There was Jesus, ready to serve them breakfast by the sea.

Often I am tired, ready to give up and the enemy whispers the word “failure” but there He is every morning…Jesus…quick to forgive, desiring to sit and share with me. What zeal Peter showed, he could have hung his head in shame, but he jumped in because he knew Jesus was his greatest need.

Peter received what he worked hard for all night and he left it all behind to swim to Jesus. Like Peter, my life is full of mistakes, but I never want to stop running to Jesus, even when it means leaving what I feel is important behind and jumping out and swimming to Him, to sit at His feet, to hear Him, to know Him more and more. He is most definitely my greatest need!