When we claim Scripture to base
or justify a desire is a very wise thing provided we keep the context in mind.
In this matter of Psa 37:4, God is defining delight which includes
trusting, doing good, dwelling in the land He has given, feeding on His
faithfulness, delighting in the LORD, committing your way to Him, and trusting
in Him. This is what’s in the trust sandwich (Psa 37:3-5). Our desires will
never come to pass as long as we take words like “delight” and put our own spin
on it.
In the midst of this
befuddlement of whether to abort or not on our desire already in motion, it is
always good for us to remember that God never ever makes a mistake; He is
all-knowing and incapable of being surprised by an unseen event because He
knows the beginning and end of all things. If there is a mistake, a
miscalculation, a misread, or a misleading, it’s all on us, not God. This is so
vitally important to keep in mind whenever there’s a hiccup or things appear to
be heading in a southerly direction as we rocket toward fulfilling our desires
and out comes the finger-pointing.
You know that we can desire a
thing so intently that we really are not asking God at all for permission; we
just let on that we are before man, but God knows our heart! And maybe, just
maybe, we are reading into those markers indicating a green light way more than
we should (Jer 17:9). Let me give a common illustration. Visualize the scene of
a man barely crawling in the hot desert sand toward an oasis that is nothing
more than a mirage. He thinks it’s real; he hopes that it is real because
getting there before he dies of thirst is his only objective. That’s making me
sad and thirsty just thinking about it!
A desire out of control can
trick the mind into buying into an illusion that our desires are in God’s will.
We have so convinced ourselves that we see a green light in fulfilling those
desires that we invest our time, emotions, energies, and monies into it. Is
this an illusion (a mirage) or is it for real (God is in it)? There is no easy
answer, and definitely, there is no formula, but I will say this as a general
rule.
God is not going to give us the
green light on something that is either unholy or harmful to us, and neither
will He give us a go if the spiritual condition of our heart is unhealthy.
Should we fail to practice having a healthy spiritual diet, such as consuming all
of the fully loaded trust sandwiches, God will refrain from giving to us the
desires of our hearts.
For those believers who are
willfully ignorant of God’s Word or who make a practice of cherry-picking the
Scriptures, such believers never understand that our desires must be linked to
God’s Word, for the Word of God is His will, and His will is for us. We miss out
on so many blessings from God from silly disobedience. This is Christianity 101
stuff in determining if our desires are aligned with God’s will for our life.
One way to look at a desire is
to ask ourselves, “Is my desire different from the way a lost world desires
things?” We know God’s will is not even a consideration by the world (1 Jn
2:16-17a). We are, however, admonished to think and act differently than the
world of our past life after regeneration (Eph 4:17-18, 19-20; 1 Thes 4:3-5, 7; 1
Pet 4:3); we are not to think and act like a Gentile or a Jew with a darkened
mind (2 Cor 4:4). Rather than being sight-minded (2 Cor 5:7), we are to be
light-minded (Eph 5:8). Ask yourself, what am I doing differently than the lost
man? What can I do as a Christian that a lost man cannot? If you don’t see any distinctions
at that level, it is advisable to consider a 1 Jn 1:9 event.
Whenever we hit a bump in the
road we may question whether this is a test of faith, or is God putting the brakes
on our heart’s desires? Or it could be that the devil has been
allowed to fabricate a mirage. The devil may even use the Word to trick us, but
he always quotes it out of context (cf. Jesus being tempted by the devil, Mt
4:1-11).
If we believe in the sovereignty
of God and the extent of His involvement in our lives as comprehensive, then we
must believe that nothing enters our life unless God approves of it, and this
approval always results in a Romans 8:28-reality. Paul never said that “all
things” were good or how God makes all things “work together” or cooperate for
our ultimate good and bringing glory to Him, “for good.” Often this conjunction
of things and cooperation involves the dark side (devil and the world system)
and God using their motives and objectives in opposition to Him to accomplish
His purposes! Of course, the darkness has no idea of the Sovereign work of God
behind their schemes, and neither do we. But His motive and objective “for
good” is nothing even remotely similar to that of the enemy.
Only an all-powerful,
all-present, all-wise, eternal, and infinite God could pull off a verse like
Romans 8:28! “God causes all things to work together for good” (NASB); think
of it! For us who are loving God, for us who are
the called ones according to His purpose, God is working all things together
for our good and His glory! It is clear that the elect here is the saved ones,
the beneficiaries of His Divine providence (Rom 8:30) and His inseparable love
for us (Rom 8:38, 39). If you are saved or have been born from above (Jn 3:3),
you are part of the elect destined for glory!
Sometimes the “why” of the present is unclear, but that is where
the “we know” comes in (Rom 8:28) with an absolute certainty that God is in
the thick of it for our good and His glory; oh if we would only hang on to that truth in the ups and downs of life! We can literally second-guess
ourselves until the cows come home and beat ourselves up with the why of
anything in our lives. “Is sin barricading my desire? Have I prayed enough? Is
God listening? Am I being too self-directed and centered? Am I overly
concerned with God’s silence?” Also, playing the blame game with others will
never see the benefit of God running interference against a desire outside of
His will. God may allow the desire to take its course or stop it dead in its
tracks before it comes to fruition. He is God, and He does as He pleases, which
is always in step with His Word.
Do you remember Yahweh’s command to Joshua prior to crossing the
Jordan River into the Promised Land?
Jos 1:6 Be strong and of
good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land
which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Jos 1:7 Only be strong
and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which
Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the
left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
Jos 1:8 This Book of the
Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and
night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For
then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Jos 1:9 Have I not
commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be
dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
Here is the critical thing in knowing and doing God’s will for our
lives. If we want God to bless our desires, willful ignorance of God’s Word or
picking and choosing what we like and disregarding the rest is not going to get us
one step closer to realizing the desires of our heart being in line with the
will of God. It never has, and it never will.
Have you ever had a state trooper pull you over and give you
only a warning “to observe the speed limit” rather than issuing you a deserved
citation? You may have been speeding in ignorance or knowing the speed limit
and decided to ignore it anyway and go with the flow of the traffic. Either
way, the law was technically violated whether in ignorance or in knowledge. The
trooper may have given you a grace pass, but God does not offer a grace pass to
believers for sinning in knowledge or sinning in ignorance; He demands
repentance which brings about restoration of fellowship (not salvation) with
Him. God blesses obedience and does not excuse or tolerate disobedience from His
children.
The truth that emerges from
God’s instructions to Joshua 1:6-9 is the definition of Biblical success –
knowing and doing God’s will for our life. In the KJV, the English word
“success” is only found within the framework of Joshua 1:8. In an age where
success means so many things, it is good to see how the Lord measures success
among His children.
It is the superb and
transcendent principle behind every endeavor for the believer, even a personal
desire. Unless the spiritual condition of our heart is fixed within the setting
of God’s Word, God’s will cannot be done in our lives because God always
operates within the parameters of His Word, and therefore, He will not give us
the desires from a heart that is not Word-driven. Do we delight in knowing and
doing God’s will for our lives? The giving of our heart’s desires comes forth
from such spiritually fertile soil.
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| To Part 3 |
