"Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land of safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 27: 3-4
As I was reading this verse I have underlined in my bible for the millionth time, I was struck with something new. This is probably not a new thought to the world, but it was to me...
We live in a world where now, often times, we look at God and say "What's in it for me?" "How does this help me be happy?" "How does this help me get what I want?"
This is not how it is supposed to be friends. Sanctification ( the process of becoming more like God through the work of the holy spirit and the christian life) is absolutely not about making your life more comfortable, or your stuff, or even your happiness really. It is about your holiness. This is not to be stoic or a downer, but this is an important thing to wrap our minds around. For example, we don't abstain from things because "it'll make them better later". We abstain because God has told us his model for our lives, and we need to be obedient to that model, and trust that it is how it is for a reason. But He hasn't condemned us to be hermits who withdraw from all things, and have no desires either. In the pursuit of sanctification, God wants to draw us closer to himself. He wants to bless us, and show us the better way, but he cannot bless things that are apart from himself and pull us away from him.
I always thought "Delight yourself in the Lord...AND he will give your the desires of YOUR heart" was about somehow appeasing God into giving you what you wanted...like "Look God! Look how much I delighted in you this week! I blogged about you and Instagramed a bible verse and was listening to Christian music all week! Look! Can I get that thing I really want now?!" but this verse isn't about God giving out Gold stars to the people who mustered the most enthusiasm to be "a good christian" that week. And while I have known that, and been learning a lot recently about trusting and obeying the life that God has laid out in his word, this hit me (finally) in a ne way today.
When you are trusting in God, you are safe because you are comfortable with him filtering the things that come your way. You don't chase headlong after things that are against his word or his plan for you. You hold things loosely, and ask "What do YOU want for me?" over your own desires. This allows great freedom, because you recognize circumstances are beyond your control. This allows you to respond to them as they come, instead of worrying about things that haven't even happened.
The second part ( this is the kicker!) is that when you are truly Delighting in the Lord, and who he is and the work that he has for you to do, (wait for it) he gives you the desires of your heart because your heart is being turned towards desiring him and his ways. (boom)
So, you aren't putting enough coins into the claw machine to get God's blessing by "delighting" in him. Instead, he is turning those desires away from things that are outside of his plan, and will harm you, and towards himself and the life that he wants for you. And when you are in that, instead of chasing the former desires, you are being made Holy, and he can bless you like crazy. But it has to begin with the delight, not the desires. In order to be delighting and trusting, we have to fully set aside what we think we want, and allow him to give us desires for his way, his word, and the benefit of his people.
Which is pretty cool.
We live in a world where now, often times, we look at God and say "What's in it for me?" "How does this help me be happy?" "How does this help me get what I want?"
This is not how it is supposed to be friends. Sanctification ( the process of becoming more like God through the work of the holy spirit and the christian life) is absolutely not about making your life more comfortable, or your stuff, or even your happiness really. It is about your holiness. This is not to be stoic or a downer, but this is an important thing to wrap our minds around. For example, we don't abstain from things because "it'll make them better later". We abstain because God has told us his model for our lives, and we need to be obedient to that model, and trust that it is how it is for a reason. But He hasn't condemned us to be hermits who withdraw from all things, and have no desires either. In the pursuit of sanctification, God wants to draw us closer to himself. He wants to bless us, and show us the better way, but he cannot bless things that are apart from himself and pull us away from him.
I always thought "Delight yourself in the Lord...AND he will give your the desires of YOUR heart" was about somehow appeasing God into giving you what you wanted...like "Look God! Look how much I delighted in you this week! I blogged about you and Instagramed a bible verse and was listening to Christian music all week! Look! Can I get that thing I really want now?!" but this verse isn't about God giving out Gold stars to the people who mustered the most enthusiasm to be "a good christian" that week. And while I have known that, and been learning a lot recently about trusting and obeying the life that God has laid out in his word, this hit me (finally) in a ne way today.
When you are trusting in God, you are safe because you are comfortable with him filtering the things that come your way. You don't chase headlong after things that are against his word or his plan for you. You hold things loosely, and ask "What do YOU want for me?" over your own desires. This allows great freedom, because you recognize circumstances are beyond your control. This allows you to respond to them as they come, instead of worrying about things that haven't even happened.
The second part ( this is the kicker!) is that when you are truly Delighting in the Lord, and who he is and the work that he has for you to do, (wait for it) he gives you the desires of your heart because your heart is being turned towards desiring him and his ways. (boom)
So, you aren't putting enough coins into the claw machine to get God's blessing by "delighting" in him. Instead, he is turning those desires away from things that are outside of his plan, and will harm you, and towards himself and the life that he wants for you. And when you are in that, instead of chasing the former desires, you are being made Holy, and he can bless you like crazy. But it has to begin with the delight, not the desires. In order to be delighting and trusting, we have to fully set aside what we think we want, and allow him to give us desires for his way, his word, and the benefit of his people.
Which is pretty cool.
