What do we long for and dream of? What is BIG to us? What consumes our thoughts and makes our heart rate accelerate? Has this dream or longing come to the point of taking our attention from God? Has it stifled our love for God? Has our intimacy with God eroded away, similar to a marriage gone bad. If I had a few moments to spare, what would I choose to do? There are so many choices: Surf the internet, e-mail friends, plunge myself into various hobbies, go for a run, hang with friends or family... Giving Jesus first claim on my spare time has really been a challenge for me lately! Why is it so easy to put these other things before God? Why am I adoring them more than God? Material possessions, people, popularity, beauty, food, and sports give only temporal satisfaction, but, why do they seem so BIG?
This last week we had my niece and nephew staying with us. If you've ever experienced the extremely annoying reaction of a toddler who has their precious toy taken away, I imagine you have an idea of what it's like to be in God's position when He exposes the startling truth that the temporal things we've put our trust in are taken away. When people let us down, our external beauty starts to fade, or we loose our athletic or mental abilities we are left depressed or angry. But, that is when God is able to show us the selfishness within our dreams and desires, the nature within our own hearts. When we come to this realization our reaction should be to repent and ask God to forgive us and commit ourselves to Him as all-sufficient. Then He can fill up the place of people or things that fail us. I'm loving these verses today so I'm going to close my thoughts with them:
"Blessed [is] the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is."
Jeremiah 17:7
Jeremiah 17:7
But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Great post, Jennie! I know I struggle in this area of giving the Lord my spare time. Thank you for the encouragement! Darling pictures :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this Jennie. It takes a while for you're posts to sink in with me, [I need to think faster] (: but I really appreciate the honesty and transparency in your posts. That truth is poignant for me right now.
ReplyDeleteIt's especially hard when God gives us dreams and desires for really good things, and then we experience the painful death of the vision. I know His ways are perfect, and I also know that some of His ways are "past finding out" on this side of eternity. The pain either makes us turn to God or turn away from Him.
When the Good Shepherd leads us through the valleys and we experience loss; when we are broken and at the bottom of our rope, that seems to be the very place where He wants to show us that He is All-Sufficient. It sounds trite to write this, but it actually seems that we really can't know Jesus is all we need, until Jesus is all we have. It's at our lowest point we should take our shoes off, (if we still have them) because this place is Holy Ground. God is here.
I'm so glad that He is One who can bind up broken hearts and He is our Healer.
Your post reminded me of one of my favorite hymns and for that, I thank you. I hope you still sing it at Straitgate.
JESUS, Jesus, all-sufficient,
Beyond telling is Thy worth;
In Thy Name lie greater treasures
Than the richest found on earth.
Such abundance
Is my portion with my God.
In Thy gracious face there’s beauty
Far surpassing every thing
Found in all the earth’s great wonders
Mortal eye hath never seen.
Rose of Sharon,
Thou Thyself art heaven’s delight.
William Williams, 1717-91
Here's a link to the congregational hymn:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.summerconference.org/result/sermonresult/458.jsp?n=157
Thanks so much for the encouragement, Briana & Jono!
ReplyDelete