Posted by Darlene Schacht, co-author of Reshaping it All
God delights in his people—you and I. He enjoys us so much that even the very hair on our head is numbered. I can't imagine the accounting department He must have to keep track of mine. I change my hair often, in fact I just got it cut this week again.
I wonder... would we take the time to number His hair if we could? Would we linger in His presence that long? Or is God merely a means of supplying our need? Let's dig and find out.
Why do we seek God? Too often the answer is out of a self-centered desire that brings us to our knees and back into His presence, where we know we should have been all along.
This diet isn’t working, Lord. Maybe if I pray harder, dig deeper, read more… I’ll capture the magic that enables your goodness to flow freely to me. Perhaps if I stay in your presence long enough, I’ll be thin...
Essentially, His delight is that we would be there, and that we would stay there in His presence every moment of our day. But God knows us well enough to also know it won’t be so. We’ll run to other pastures when things are feeling right, and when the reality of our frailty is upon us, we’ll return to His side. Praise God He is there when we seek Him.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.. ~ – James 1:2-4That’s how God sees it: pressure leads to maturity.
We look at the equation differently: A + B = "C"
Oh how we long for a “C” in our life--the sum of all our desires! A friendlier scale, a small waistline, spirituality trailing from the hem of our robe…
And so we Google the scriptures in search of the variables...
Aha—we find them:
Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ~ Matthew 6:33, NIVApply those to our life, and they’ll equal "C!" Sounds challenging and rewarding.
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
– Psalm 37:4, NIV
We seek Him out, and delight in Him with all of our might, and what do we get? We get the desire of our heart, of course. But unfortunately the desire of our heart today is a frothy mocha latte to chase down the pizza.
Do you see the circle we find ourselves swirling in? We have a misplaced figure in our equation, which is this: unless "C" equals “God” we’re sunk. Unless the sum of all that we do is for the one purpose of loving God with all of our heart mind and soul, our desires will never be His. But rather our desires will continue to lead us to destruction.
Living by our desires is what has put us here in the first place. Every single time you grab for extra food, it’s because you desire to do so. It’s because we long for food, and desire to spend time in its presence that we find ourselves struggling to lose weight.
Let’s consider God’s desires. He created the succulent goodness of food, but I’m certain that when it came to food Jesus exercised the same self-control that He displayed in all areas of His life. In fact we see that when He was faced with the very temptation of food His reply was faith-filled and sure:
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” – Matthew 4:4, NIV
God allows us to be tempted daily with that very struggle, so that while our heart may be tested, we might see the reality of our frailness and cling to Him.
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ~ Deuteronomy 8:2-3, NIV
Does this mean that we give up on our journey, while we wait for His desire to prompt us? That'd be easy, but--No. Pursue the will of God and walk therein. First and foremost that means desiring Him, with a pure and honest heart. That’s when His plan will unfold.
Visit Darlene at her website, Time-Warp Wife, Empowering Wives to Joyfully Serve:
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Congratulations to Jennifer of Haye's Mom x 3 Who is the winner of last weeks prize package!!
Comment #10 was chosen through random.org
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