I’m sure you’ve heard this verse before: Psalm 37: 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. I think this verse can be read in two ways. The first is reading it that as you hang out with God, enjoy Him, and know Him, He will give you what you want. I tend to think this reading is kind of shallow because it makes God sound a little like a vending machine of spiritual treats. Like we can just put in a little time here, read a chapter of the Bible there, and wa-bam, we get what we want. Another way to read this verse would be that as you spend time with God, getting to know Him, loving Him, then the desires that are in your heart will actually be desires that are given to you by God. I love this interpretation because it means that your relationship with God changes you, as does your relationship with any person. You will be somehow changed. Hopefully, this is even truer with God. He knows us. He knows what we long for, and He knows what He longs for for us. Greg, I do not doubt you love Him. So, I safely assume that this desire you have to write is given to you by God. He wants it for you too. He doesn’t give us desires and not allow them to be fulfilled. That would be cruel. Look at Hannah and Elizabeth- they wanted children so badly- and even though they were old and thought that those desires would never, ever be fulfilled, God was faithful to both of them. Not to say that your desires won’t be fulfilled until you’re old and wrinkly or something, but that even when you feel like it’s hopeless and never going to happen, remember that God gave you those desires for a reason and He will, in some way, honor those. People wanted ridiculous things in the Bible. Moses asked to see God. How crazy is that request? But the craziest part is that God answered it- as far as was possible. Ruth and Naomi wanted a kinsman redeemer. God honored that and gave them far more than they even asked for. Yet He also used it to test their trust in Him. David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, and although God did not allow Him to do this, David’s desire was fulfilled through his son Solomon. Point being, God uses our desires to challenge us, to test our faithfulness, to cause us to question how deeply we trust God. I think He uses them to work our perseverance, to form our patience, to strengthen our prayer. So, although God may use your desire to write for much beyond simply producing writing, He WILL, probably in some miraculous way, fulfill it.
2 comments:
Amen, Greg! You're on your way :-)
I’m sure you’ve heard this verse before:
Psalm 37: 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
I think this verse can be read in two ways. The first is reading it that as you hang out with God, enjoy Him, and know Him, He will give you what you want. I tend to think this reading is kind of shallow because it makes God sound a little like a vending machine of spiritual treats. Like we can just put in a little time here, read a chapter of the Bible there, and wa-bam, we get what we want. Another way to read this verse would be that as you spend time with God, getting to know Him, loving Him, then the desires that are in your heart will actually be desires that are given to you by God. I love this interpretation because it means that your relationship with God changes you, as does your relationship with any person. You will be somehow changed. Hopefully, this is even truer with God. He knows us. He knows what we long for, and He knows what He longs for for us.
Greg, I do not doubt you love Him. So, I safely assume that this desire you have to write is given to you by God. He wants it for you too. He doesn’t give us desires and not allow them to be fulfilled. That would be cruel. Look at Hannah and Elizabeth- they wanted children so badly- and even though they were old and thought that those desires would never, ever be fulfilled, God was faithful to both of them. Not to say that your desires won’t be fulfilled until you’re old and wrinkly or something, but that even when you feel like it’s hopeless and never going to happen, remember that God gave you those desires for a reason and He will, in some way, honor those.
People wanted ridiculous things in the Bible. Moses asked to see God. How crazy is that request? But the craziest part is that God answered it- as far as was possible. Ruth and Naomi wanted a kinsman redeemer. God honored that and gave them far more than they even asked for. Yet He also used it to test their trust in Him. David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, and although God did not allow Him to do this, David’s desire was fulfilled through his son Solomon. Point being, God uses our desires to challenge us, to test our faithfulness, to cause us to question how deeply we trust God. I think He uses them to work our perseverance, to form our patience, to strengthen our prayer. So, although God may use your desire to write for much beyond simply producing writing, He WILL, probably in some miraculous way, fulfill it.
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