Doing worst as a believer is reading the instructions after
running into a situation where the pieces are not coming together; only to
discover we left out a step because we thought we could do this without reading
the manual (the Bible). We get peevish with God. Doing worst is checking the
map after getting lost in the woods, and we question why God led us there.
Doing worst is what we did when we were lost in sin and could care less what
the Bible had to say about anything. God, if there was One, was not going to
tell us what to do. It was the worst of times; it was the worst of times,
living in darkness and without hope.
Dr. Michael Womack told us a story recently about a woman
without Christ who had visited our church and took delight in asking him
questions about the Bible. She texted him and said, “If Jesus said, ‘Ask and
you shall receive,’ why is there not a Lamborghini sitting in my driveway?” God
expects this from those who are in darkness, but not from those who are of the
Light! Sin is driving our thoughts and actions rather than the Spirit (Gal
5:16). We are so focused on the promise that we ignore or are disinterested in
the precursors of a promise made by God to us. In short, we take a promise out
of its context and stake a claim! When God doesn’t make good on it, we are
critical and question God and His Word!
It is a heartbreaker to see believers unwisely turn away from
the Word of God and return to the ways of the world – challenging God and being
critical of His Word. We’ve all been down that road before salvation. Why would
we now go chasing some illusion of a life apart from the Word? There is
absolutely nothing of eternal value in doing so for a believer (cf. Eccl 1:14;
Jn 6:66-67, 68)! Whenever we pursue the things of this world apart from His
will (Col 3:1-2), we are definitely on our way to a place John Bunyan called, “Vanity
Fair.” For a believer to be heading in that never-authorized direction is
irrational and vanity of vanities; it is a place of the vexation of spirit (cf. 2
Pet 2:7, 8), trying to make a go of it, living under the sun without God’s
blessing! It's crazy bad.
A verse like Eph 5:18, “being filled with the Spirit” is not a
revelation that God has some kind of abnormal passion for being in control of
our lives. This is actually a protective measure by God for us because of the
self-destructive tendencies of the sinful nature when walking in the flesh. God
will enable us through His Holy Spirit to avoid those sinful proclivities (cf.
Gal 5:16). Living in the flesh is a fruit killer and un-Christ-like. When our
heart’s desires seek His blessing, it is a far better approach than going rogue
and doing something we will regret down the road when titillating turns into a
terrifying train wreck.
A Word-driven delight in the LORD is what we need, knowing and
doing God’s will to the hilt according to the Scriptures, having the undeniable
fruit of Christlikeness. If we grab a hold of that for dear life, the desires
of our hearts will conform to the Word which is tantamount to His will. What
is the payoff of following the precursors to a conditional promise from God?
Let me relay them to you, “For then you will make your way prosperous, and then
you will have good success” (Jos 1:8); “And He shall give you the desires of
your heart” (Psa 37:4); “And He shall direct your paths” (Prov 3:6); and “that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God” (Rom 12:2)!
As we move by faith in
the “make your way” (Jos 1:8) in
an unknown or in the sphere of an impression, it is paramount that we stay true
to the known as revealed in the Scriptures. Promises are never realized in the wild
(outside of God’s will) but always according to His Word. We see the
fulfillment and the advancing of the Kingdom of God in the promise or desire
when we stay true to God and His Word.
How can we know our desires are spot on with God’s will? First,
no one knows God’s will for another other than their own. As long as there is
no violation of the teaching of Scripture, no one has a right to say such and
such desire is wrong. Second, if we are not doing those things that David (Psa
37) or Joshua (Josh 1) mentioned, we will
stray from the straight path
of God’s will, chasing after some unsanctioned desire/s that are off the beaten
path of His will. Idolatry was a real problem in the Old Testament. If we
accept the expanded definition of idolatry as anything that competes with the
will of God for our life, then I would definitively say that we have a problem
with idolatry today. A desire that pulls us away from God is idolatry. This is
not a place where we need to be! It is the worst of places!
There is another passage written by Solomon in Prov 3:5-6 that
is applicable to realizing personal desires. These two verses dovetail nicely
with David (Psa 37:4) and Joshua (Jos 1:8). It brings three critical questions
into the equation if our desire is blessed or denied. If these three questions
cannot be answered honestly and positively, our desire is out of alignment with
God’s will, and biblical success cannot be achieved.
(1) “Trust in the LORD with all your
heart.” Are we totally trusting in Yahweh in the desire, (2) “Lean not unto
your own understanding.” Are we leaning on our own understanding or God’s
understanding of what is desired, (3) “In all your ways acknowledge Him.”
Are we acknowledging God in all of our desires or just some? If these can be
answered in the affirmative, then there is an authentic delight in Yahweh who will
make our pathway straight (Prov 3:6b).
Lastly, God is God. He is our Creator and Lord; He knows us
better than we ourselves. We can be self-deceived on an impression; He cannot
be for He is holy. To say a desire is granted or not is ultimately His decision
alone; even if we did everything mentioned by David, Joshua, or Solomon. God is
not going to grant a desire that runs contrary to Rom 8:28, right? He has to
deny it for He will not violate His Word, ever. We cannot possibly see all
things because we are finite; we have a multitude of blind spots, but God can
for He is all-knowing. Sometimes in a negative response from God concerning
our desire/s, we are able to see with greater clarity the true condition
of our heart in the thing desired.
A personal desire should never be considered of greater importance than
our relationship of love and trust with the Father. I think of David's desire
to build a house for God. His desire would be denied and that privilege would
be granted to Solomon his son, and yet, King David remained a man after God’s own
heart. David's heart desires played second fiddle to the desires of God's
own heart; in essence, God’s will was David’s will for Yahweh was the Shepherd,
and David was His sheep (Psa 23:1; Jn 10:27). In the vernacular of today, David’s heart was
actually a Christlike heart, “not My will, but Yours, be done” (Lk 22:42b). Do
our desires truly reflect the heart of Christ?
Whether having to wait on a desire, walk toward a desire, or
walk away from a desire, I think the Apostle Paul would agree that a renewed
mind (Rom 12:1, 2) has a superior advantage of understanding God’s will and how
it relates to the desire of our heart than those who choose to either ignore or
cherry pick the Scriptures. I dare you to do better than fleshly thinking by
pursuing a desire through a renewed mind when it comes to God’s will for your
life (Eph 4:22-24; 5:8-10). <><
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