So, for the last few years a verse that has really just stuck with me and ministered especially to me is Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Funny thing is that for most of my life I didn't really understand this verse. See, like a lot of Americans today, I was only too willing to turn to God when I wanted something. This verse, if anything, really supported that theory... Problem is, theory that is untested is just that... theory. And goodness knows that I never really tested it! So here I was stuck with a notion that if I wanted the desires of my heart, all I had to do was delight in the Lord. Okay, so not that hard, right?
WRONG!!!
First of all, I was reading the verse backwards... it doesn't say that in order to get the desires of your heart delight yourself in the Lord; it says delight yourself in the Lord and then you'll get the desires of your heart. I was going about it the wrong way. See, God isn't some sort of pop machine where you put in the change and make your selection, and out pops your choice soda... God actually desires change in our lifestyles, thought processes, and general outlook... which takes us into point #2...
Secondly, so if we put it back into the right order and look at how we are to go about it... We are delighting in the Lord in the beginning. Okay, so what does that look like? And how does it affect the outcome? Well, its just like this... When we delight, and I mean really delight, in the Lord, He is in the business of changing our hearts. Yeah, so what was the desire of your heart... maybe not so much anymore! God is good about doing things like that!
Thirdly, as much as God really loves His children, He really isn't the kind that is only interested in us getting the desires of our hearts. See, He is also a really amazing loving Father, and He knows that sometimes what we want is not always the best thing for us. So then when we start delighting in Him, the desires of our hearts are taking back burner... and sometimes when they are back there just simmering, they start to boil dry. Suddenly we really don't want them anymore. Then we are free to throw out our silly desires, and ask God what He has to fill our pots. Or, we realize that He is also in our desires and we aren't to be giving them up... but maybe He has a different spice to add, or a different time schedule for simmering that desire. Somehow it always turns out better when He is the one doing the cooking!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Life Happens
So yeah, life happens, and sometimes it really isn't pretty at all! This has really been my life of late... the pressure of work finally climaxed to the point where I don't even know if I have a job any more... (I know, nursing is supposed to be job security!)
Anyway, all weekend I have been struggling with this and some other stuff in my life that is going down... and it is all confusing and had thrown me into a miniature depression.
So then today, I open my Bible, and what is staring me in the face... (I just randomly flipped it open, but apparently God was directing my fingers...) Hosea 6 (and seriously who reads Hosea?)
"Come let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Okay, so what does that all mean? First of all, for me, it meant that God had specifically ordained (ie. planned, premeditated, mapped, forethought) this time in my life. He was the one who had torn me to pieces... but He was also the one who could restore!
Almost like a surgeon doing surgery on a misaligned broken bone, it is necessary sometime for God to inflict wounds for the very purpose of resetting our lives to function properly. The thing to remember is not only did He start the surgery, but He remains our Physician through the healing. He doesn't leave us to someone else's care; He stays by our sides until those wounds are completely healed and bound up! (and quite honestly, even afterwards!
Okay, so secondly, for me, there was also a promise... that He would not let me stay wounded, but that He had already provided a way, and He was in the business of reviving me on the second day... (would have been yesterday) and on the third day restoring me! And the thing is that He is faithful, even when I am faithless... and He is true to his promises, even when I fail to trust them. He had already started the revival yesterday through some very true friends who were not afraid to love on me and speak Christ into my life!
And then today I am still down, and I flip open to this passage... and let me tell you my entire viewpoint changed... Just like that the He has restored me!
But, He does His restoration for a reason... (lest we get too hasty and "feel goody" about this!)... check out the next part of the verse! "... that we may live in His presence." This is His plan, when He brings us through this... to have us become more and more reliant on Him and His love!
Then He delights to come to us like the winter rains, and like the spring rains that water the earth, He brings refreshment and healing into our lives that we are able to grow and flourish resting in the fertilizer of the hard times, and stretching tender shoots up towards heaven!
Anyway, all weekend I have been struggling with this and some other stuff in my life that is going down... and it is all confusing and had thrown me into a miniature depression.
So then today, I open my Bible, and what is staring me in the face... (I just randomly flipped it open, but apparently God was directing my fingers...) Hosea 6 (and seriously who reads Hosea?)
"Come let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Okay, so what does that all mean? First of all, for me, it meant that God had specifically ordained (ie. planned, premeditated, mapped, forethought) this time in my life. He was the one who had torn me to pieces... but He was also the one who could restore!
Almost like a surgeon doing surgery on a misaligned broken bone, it is necessary sometime for God to inflict wounds for the very purpose of resetting our lives to function properly. The thing to remember is not only did He start the surgery, but He remains our Physician through the healing. He doesn't leave us to someone else's care; He stays by our sides until those wounds are completely healed and bound up! (and quite honestly, even afterwards!
Okay, so secondly, for me, there was also a promise... that He would not let me stay wounded, but that He had already provided a way, and He was in the business of reviving me on the second day... (would have been yesterday) and on the third day restoring me! And the thing is that He is faithful, even when I am faithless... and He is true to his promises, even when I fail to trust them. He had already started the revival yesterday through some very true friends who were not afraid to love on me and speak Christ into my life!
And then today I am still down, and I flip open to this passage... and let me tell you my entire viewpoint changed... Just like that the He has restored me!
But, He does His restoration for a reason... (lest we get too hasty and "feel goody" about this!)... check out the next part of the verse! "... that we may live in His presence." This is His plan, when He brings us through this... to have us become more and more reliant on Him and His love!
Then He delights to come to us like the winter rains, and like the spring rains that water the earth, He brings refreshment and healing into our lives that we are able to grow and flourish resting in the fertilizer of the hard times, and stretching tender shoots up towards heaven!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Bitterness
So I just realized that my friend was right... He told me once that people are like tea: if they steep too long they become bitter.
I got wrapped up in what I was doing on the computer and definitely let my tea steep too long today... and yeah, its a little bitter and I am not enjoying it as much as normal.
Then I got to thinking... (and that is never good!) I have been going through a small area of depression in my life, and while I am still functioning, its like part of the sparkle has gone out of life. Then I realized, that like the tea, I have been steeping too long. And its not even about something unGodly... its actually a vision that God has given me for my future... I have just been dwelling on it entirely too much, so that it is stealing my heart and concentration away from the here and now. Now it is obviously something that I need to think about... (imagine if you didn't let your tea steep at all!), but its also something that needs to have its perfect time limit, and not defeat the purpose of steeping at all! (think: your milk is cold by the time you add your tea... blek!)
So that is my thought for the day... and sorry about the unoriginality of thought... (btw, this guy can pretty much make up "life is like..."s about anything! and I know cause I challenge him to it frequently!) Don't be the bag of tea that has been steeping until you are bitter. Don't let yourself be that brew that steals joy from the rest of life! Purpose now to only dwell on the excellent, and to allow for God's perfect times and seasons!
I got wrapped up in what I was doing on the computer and definitely let my tea steep too long today... and yeah, its a little bitter and I am not enjoying it as much as normal.
Then I got to thinking... (and that is never good!) I have been going through a small area of depression in my life, and while I am still functioning, its like part of the sparkle has gone out of life. Then I realized, that like the tea, I have been steeping too long. And its not even about something unGodly... its actually a vision that God has given me for my future... I have just been dwelling on it entirely too much, so that it is stealing my heart and concentration away from the here and now. Now it is obviously something that I need to think about... (imagine if you didn't let your tea steep at all!), but its also something that needs to have its perfect time limit, and not defeat the purpose of steeping at all! (think: your milk is cold by the time you add your tea... blek!)
So that is my thought for the day... and sorry about the unoriginality of thought... (btw, this guy can pretty much make up "life is like..."s about anything! and I know cause I challenge him to it frequently!) Don't be the bag of tea that has been steeping until you are bitter. Don't let yourself be that brew that steals joy from the rest of life! Purpose now to only dwell on the excellent, and to allow for God's perfect times and seasons!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
What God can Use: _______
So I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, (yes, you made the blog once again; don't you feel special!)... and was explaining one of my favorite passages in scripture. It is a really odd passage, but once I explain why it is so special to me, I think that you will understand and maybe you'll have a new favorite passage as well...
Preface: I am one of those people, like a lot of people that I meet, that struggles with feelings of insufficiency. Feelings that I will never be good enough, that I am not relationship material, that I can't be a good enough sister to my siblings, that I am incapable of loving my parents the way that they deserve, I can't be a good enough nurse, I can't live an example of a Godly life, I am not worthy of the respect of my friends, that I am unable... The list goes on, but that is not the point.
I stumbled across this passage one day, completely by accident. Its one of those passages that generally I would just have skipped over, but that day it struck a special cord in my heart, and has continued to ever since...
The passage is John 11:49-52--Basically, if you'll allow me to paraphrase, the priests are all gathering around and unhappy about Jesus usurping their position with the people... and they are like all plotting and grumbling and then the high priest speaks up and says "You know nothing at all! Don't you know that it would be better for you that one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish."... and this in and of itself isn't that big of deal, okay, I'll give you that. But look at what the next verse says... "He didn't say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one." This is the part that gets me! See this guy was advocating that they make sure that Christ was put to death... and yet God was still able to use this guy to prophesy His divine redemptive plan! That just blows my mind when I think of it.
First of all, how could God use someone who was so against His plan to actually accomplish His plan? I mean this is not one of those guys that you would really classify as being near and dear to the vision of God's heart! And then second, I think... if God can use someone like that... why do I not believe that He is able to use me? I mean, at least I am batting for His team, right? Would He not much rather use that open, willing, moldable heart, which we have offered to His service? Why is that so hard to trust that He is able? Even that He desires it? Oh, me of little faith...
So that is my passage of encouragement for you... that God is able to use anything and anyone to accomplish His purposes... But let me tell you, I'd much rather that He used me as a willingly servant! What are you feeling insufficient for today? Do you believe in a God big enough to use you? Even you?
So, fill in the blank.... What God can use: _____.... the answer is YOU!
Preface: I am one of those people, like a lot of people that I meet, that struggles with feelings of insufficiency. Feelings that I will never be good enough, that I am not relationship material, that I can't be a good enough sister to my siblings, that I am incapable of loving my parents the way that they deserve, I can't be a good enough nurse, I can't live an example of a Godly life, I am not worthy of the respect of my friends, that I am unable... The list goes on, but that is not the point.
I stumbled across this passage one day, completely by accident. Its one of those passages that generally I would just have skipped over, but that day it struck a special cord in my heart, and has continued to ever since...
The passage is John 11:49-52--Basically, if you'll allow me to paraphrase, the priests are all gathering around and unhappy about Jesus usurping their position with the people... and they are like all plotting and grumbling and then the high priest speaks up and says "You know nothing at all! Don't you know that it would be better for you that one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish."... and this in and of itself isn't that big of deal, okay, I'll give you that. But look at what the next verse says... "He didn't say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one." This is the part that gets me! See this guy was advocating that they make sure that Christ was put to death... and yet God was still able to use this guy to prophesy His divine redemptive plan! That just blows my mind when I think of it.
First of all, how could God use someone who was so against His plan to actually accomplish His plan? I mean this is not one of those guys that you would really classify as being near and dear to the vision of God's heart! And then second, I think... if God can use someone like that... why do I not believe that He is able to use me? I mean, at least I am batting for His team, right? Would He not much rather use that open, willing, moldable heart, which we have offered to His service? Why is that so hard to trust that He is able? Even that He desires it? Oh, me of little faith...
So that is my passage of encouragement for you... that God is able to use anything and anyone to accomplish His purposes... But let me tell you, I'd much rather that He used me as a willingly servant! What are you feeling insufficient for today? Do you believe in a God big enough to use you? Even you?
So, fill in the blank.... What God can use: _____.... the answer is YOU!
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