“The Lord Hath Need of Him”

Ever read a verse an entirely new way? I just did, and it’s been simmering in my head ever since.

For sure, we need to be careful with this sort of thing. The Word is the Word. It’s meant to be read and understood for what it says, not what we think or hope it means, so let’s avoid over-spiritualizing or stretching Bible verses in directions they weren’t meant to go.

And yet – well, hear me out, and judge for yourself. Renee and I were reading from Luke a couple days ago, when we hit this simple verse, which I’ve read a hundred times. Yet this time it stopped me cold.

It’s in Chapter 19, where Jesus is in route to Jerusalem, instructing two of His disciples to untie a colt and bring it for Him to ride on. Then He adds:

And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. (Luke 19:31)

Simple transaction; plain instruction. “Untie the colt and say I need it.” But broaden the meaning outside the immediate context, and you can see why it got me
so excited:

“Why do you loose him?”
“Because the Lord hath need of him.”
And that’s a darned good reason to be about the business of loosing people.

Loving Means Loosing

Everyone I know who ministers to people affected by sexual sin hears this question sooner or later. Anyone, in fact, who serves people in any capacity, especially when it involves freeing someone from an ungodly habit, relationship, tendency, or situation, will also hear this: Why do you do it?

Sometimes the question’s sincere, asked by someone puzzled at such an effort. (Like, “Why bother. Don’t you know it’s a lost cause?”) Sometimes the question comes from a more hostile place, as in “Why encourage someone to be anything other than who they really are?” (As if we’re defined by sin the way we’re defined by race or sex.) Regardless, “The Lord hath need of him” is a good enough rationale
for me.

The Lord Has Love for Him —

Of course, that’s not the first or essential reason for doing all you can to help someone out of bondage. God hates sin and its effect on His creation, wanting a relationship with us, but unable to have one if the sin in our lives isn’t dealt with, since light and darkness can’t commune. There’s a primary reason for seeing someone loosed – because their bondage is God’s heartache.

Then there’s the impact of their sin on their spouse, or loved ones, friends, or others. Surely the man using porn, for example, isn’t doing so in a vacuum. Someone else is affected, whether the spouse who’s crushed by his lust, or the kids who lose respect for their father, or even the porn performer who’s encouraged to continue her suicidal career because guys like him support it. Those are excellent reasons for loosing him.

—and the Lord has Need of Him

But there’s also God’s purposes in the man’s life to consider, the potential which is hindered or even aborted because the vessel is unclean, thereby limited, thereby unfit to be used by the Potter who fashioned him with something better in mind.

When sin binds a person, it also binds God intentions for that person, choking her or his potential, and ripping all of us off. Because just as we all benefit when someone becomes what they’re meant to be, we likewise lose when
someone doesn’t.

That’s why I see people in bondage the way I see a good racecar needing special work. It’s intended to speed around the track, but something’s gone wrong, making it sputter when it should zoom. At which point the driver pulls it over for a pit stop, not just because the vehicle is inherently valuable, but also because it has potential. Its purposes are waiting to be fulfilled, if only the adjustments – the “loosening”, if you will – can be made.

God is glorified when someone in sin is loosed, and His purposes, once thwarted by bondage, can now move ahead.

The Privilege of Purposes

None of which implies, despite our common understanding of the phrase “The Lord hath need of him”, that God literally needs us to do the job. Surely He could do it better on His own, or by employing angels rather than humans. So God’s use of us hardly suggests His dependence on us.

Still, He does condescend to let us be part of what He does, and there’s a mystery to sink your teeth into. He lets us be used by Him to do what He could do far better without us, most likely because His love for us includes a desire to unite us not just with who He is, but also with what He does.

So in that sense, yes, “The Lord hath need of him.” Only because the Maker wishes to do something with a certain tool, but to do so, whatever needs correcting in the tool has to be dealt with first.

“Loose him, because the Lord hath need of him.” How many times has that command gone out regarding lost causes from Man’s perspective, but, in God’s eyes, future evangelists, pastors, musicians, Presidents, and parents. God saw both the rubble and the results, and said, “Loose Me that tool over there. I have purposes in mind.”

I should know, being a tool fashioned out of what any reasonable person would have called disposable junk. And I suppose, given some thought, you might say the same of yourself.

With that in mind, let’s commit ourselves afresh to the fast He said he chose:
“ … to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free.” (Isaiah 58:6) Because if that’s our Father’s business, which Jesus said He must be about (Luke 2:49), and if we who say we know Him should walk as He did (I John 2:6), then we, too, must be about a relentless pursuit of freedom from bondage, for ourselves and others.

That soul tied up somewhere in our vicinity is waiting for the Lord’s entry, seen by Him as worth pursuing, and entrusted to us as something precious to be seen, loved, and loosed.

Because the Lord hath need of him.