A Hierarchy of Needs
Jane Denniston
March 09, 2025
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Genesis 12: 1-4 (NRSVA)
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
The American psychologist Abraham Maslow categorised the various needs that we experience in life into a hierarchy of five. Beginning with the most basic these are: 1) physiological needs (food, shelter, and clothing), 2) safety, 3) a sense of belonging, 4) a sense of worth, 5) the opportunity to grow and develop. Maslow suggested that we cannot fulfil the higher needs until the lower needs have been met. In other words, we're not going to be as concerned about lack of self-worth if we are worried about food and shelter.
In our reading today God asked Abraham to trust him absolutely on his journey. But God also promised to fulfil Abraham's needs for all 5 levels. God promised to look after him as he travelled giving him food and shelter. God also promised him safety, God promised him a land to belong to, God promised that his name would be great (self-worth), and God promised that his name would be a blessing (self-development).
So, following God's command, Abraham became a migrant and then an immigrant, but God kept all his promises.
It was no small thing for Abraham to leave all that he knew and take the risk of following God's word. Neither is it any small thing for migrants today to leave their homes to seek asylum elsewhere. Many who reach our shores are in want of those most basic of needs – shelter, safety, and food. What can we who have these things do to support those who have not?
Prayer:
Lord and Father,
as Lord you make demands on us,
as you made a demand of Abraham,
asking us for things which can seem impossible.
Yet as Father you provide for us
and make the impossible, possible.
Help us not to take for granted the way our needs are met in all that you give us.
May we look for ways to meet the needs of others
who may have faced circumstances which we cannot imagine.
Give us strength and inspiration to find new ways to provide the needs of others
in your name, Amen
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