want

The Blessing of No

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In my daily Bible reading, I ran across a bit of a strange event in the life of David. The text says that God was angry with David, so He incited David to to a count the number of people in Israel. Even Joab, the commander of David’s army who mostly looked out for himself, didn’t think this was a good idea. But why would God incite David to sin?

I think by this point, David has become a bit prideful and probably had the idea of taking a census so he could feed his own ego about how strong he was militarily. What God did was allow him to get what he wanted and to find out how bad that would turn out.

I think one of the hardest yet most worthwhile lessons we can ever learn as believers is that sometimes God not giving us what we ask for is a blessing rather than a punishment. He knows that if we got what we wanted when we were not ready for it, it would destroy us. Or He has something different and better in store for us that we would ask for if we knew what He knew.

Conversely, God often disciplines us by allowing us to have our own way for the sole purpose of seeing where our own desires lead us apart from God. One of the major points of Romans 1 was that one of the consequences of rejecting God was that they got everything they wanted and it only further alienated them from God, each other, and their very selves.

Sometimes, a NO from God is a blessing. He’s protecting you. He knows that you’re not asking from a place of faith but of lustful desire or a thirst for power or selfish ambition. He also knows that ultimately He can’t give you peace or security apart from Himself because He is our peace and security. He is the ultimate fulfillment of every longing and desire, even though we may not see it at the time.

Thank God for every time He says no or not yet. Trust that what He has for you is better. Believe and live in the knowledge that He is enough. Seek Him and His kingdom first above all else and everything else will fall into place.

Wanting and Willing

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What follows was originally penned by Elisabeth Elliott. It speaks to the distinction between wanting to obey and willing to obey. The key is that you obey even when you don’t feel like it. You do the acts of love and then the feelings of love will follow:

“We don’t always have complete control over what we want to do because ‘wants’ are determined by circumstances, feelings, other people, social climate, times in which we live. Nobody ever wanted a pair of Reebok tennis shoes before Reebok tennis shoes were invented. The fact that you want it doesn’t mean you go and buy it. It’s a matter of ‘willing’.

The same thing is true of the will of God. We can determine to will to do the will of God. It’s a conscious choice. You may not w’ant’ to do what you know God wants you to do, but you can will to do what He wants you to do.

Don’t ever allow the devil to take you in with the argument, “You gotta do what you gotta do because if you do something that you don’t wanna do or you don’t do something that you wanna do, You’re being a hypocrite.” That’s rubbish! Do you think a mother changes a baby’s diaper only when she wants to, when she feels like it? No, she does it when the baby’s diaper needs to be changed. She WILLS to do it. It has nothing to do with whether she feels good about it.

Here is a poem I came across:

[ I believe the author was Anna J. Graniss.]

“I saw a little child
With bandaged eyes
Put up its hands
To feel its mother’s face.

She bent and took
The tender, gropy palms
And pressed them to her lips
A little space.

I know a soul
Made blind by its desires
And yet its faith keeps feeling
For God’s face.

Bend down, O Mighty Love
And let that faith
One little moment
Touch Thy lips of grace.”

The same thing as what our loving God does. Even if we are made blind by desires, the things that we want–yet faith–which is a willed act, keeps feeling for God’s face. And when we will to come to Him, will to seek His face, then He in tender love reaches down and takes our hands and leads us to Him.

George McDonald said, ‘f I felt my heart as hard as a stone, if I did not love God, or man, or woman, or little child, I would yet say to God in my heart, ‘Oh, God, see how I trust Thee because Thou art perfect and not changeable like me. I do not love Thee. I love nobody. I am not even sorry for it. Thou seest how much I need Thee to come close to me, to put Thy arm around me, to say to me, ‘My child’. For the worse my state, the greater need of my Father Who loves me.’

If anyone feels he/she has no religious feeling whatsoever, but still desires God, believe me, the Father waits for your slightest move in His direction and He will meet you” (Elisabeth Elliot).

It’s Wednesday . . . Again

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image

Sometimes, you gotta count the little blessings. So, here I am typing this out on my iPad 3 (which may no be the latest and greatest but works just fine for me).

I have one very sleepy cat in my lap who is consenting to being used as a makeshift iPad desk for the time being.

I woke up this morning. I wasn’t bedridden or comatose. I was able to get out and enjoy a lovely (almost) spring day.

I didn’t go hungry and I had a roof over my head. It’s all good.

Most of all, I have a God who still loves me, who still wants me around, who still roots for me, who still has my best at heart, and who will never give up on me or leave me or stop until He’s finished making me exactly who He meant for me to be.

I may not have everything I want but I have everything I need. I have enough.

I have joy because I choose it and because I choose to see through a different set of eyes. Eyes that see blessings and not lack. Eyes that look for the good and not at what’s wrong.

I think that makes this a good Wednesday. Don’t you?