WHAT WE SHOULD DESIRE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, Lord my God, are the wonders You have done, the things You planned for us. None can compare with You; were I to speak and tell of Your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire — but my ears You have opened — burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come — it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.”

I proclaim Your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as You know. I do not hide Your righteousness in my heart; I speak of Your faithfulness and Your saving help. I do not conceal Your love and Your faithfulness from the great assembly.

Psalm 40:4-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What are your desires in life?

We all have them.

Maybe your desire is to have a good job with long term security and an opportunity to make a lot of money. Maybe you long to go to college and get an education that might help you land that great job. Maybe you hope to meet that special someone you can spend the rest of your life with in joy and happiness. And maybe a further desire would be to start a family and have children you can raise into a bright, productive future life of their own, a life full of their own desires.

Indeed, there is no shortage of desires we might embrace. This world provides a buffet table of choices we could pick from.

But do we desire the right thing or things? Do we even stop to consider what God desires for our life?

The scripture today from the 40th Psalm convicts and challenges us to consider this question. Look at the words of David:

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, Lord my God, are the wonders You have done, the things You planned for us. None can compare with You; were I to speak and tell of Your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire — but my ears You have opened — burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come — it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.”

I proclaim Your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as You know. I do not hide Your righteousness in my heart; I speak of Your faithfulness and Your saving help. I do not conceal Your love and Your faithfulness from the great assembly.

Look at the middle paragraph. There we find that God didn’t desire the physical sacrifices and offerings David might bring Him. Yes, these sacrifices were commanded to be brought to atone for sins committed but God wanted more than just a demonstration of obedience. He wanted obedience of the heart, obedience to His will, obedience from the inside out.

To draw us to His desires, God opens our ears and imparts His guidance to us through His words and by His Spirit, who illuminates and directs us in accordance with God’s will and way. When He did so with David, how did he respond? Look at his words:

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come — it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.”

As David opened his heart and mind to God (remember he was acclaimed as being a man after God’s heart), he found his desires becoming God’s. In other words, David’s full desire was to do God’s will and he offered himself as a living sacrifice for God to use as He saw fit.

So what happens when we open our ears and our hearts and our minds and our souls to fully receive and then carry out the desires of God, fully obedient to His will and way? Two key things happen. Go back to the scripture:

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, Lord my God, are the wonders You have done, the things You planned for us. None can compare with You; were I to speak and tell of Your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

The first thing that happens is we find ourselves happy. When we place our full trust in the Lord, making His desires our desires, we experience a relationship with Him that is of the highest magnitude. All that we are becomes all that He wants us to be as we become good and faithful servants of the Lord Most High and experience the joy that comes from being in His good favor.

We also receive a sense of happiness from knowing we have one almighty, perfect Source of wisdom and knowledge and guidance. We need not worry about what to do or how to handle any circumstances. And we don’t need to go to anyone else for advice either because the Lord will always tell us what to do. All the pressure is off any man or woman who places their trust in God for we have learned we need only Him in life as we discover that He is going to see us through whatever we go though, every time and in His perfect time.

This leads to the second thing we gain. For as we gain a deeper reliance and trust in God, we also gain a greater appreciation for Him.

David fully acknowledged this truth in his words by showing admiration toward God for all the many wonders He had done. When we’re focused on God and His desires, we more acutely realize how He has worked and continued to work in our lives and in the lives around us. We gain a greater appreciation for our world and marvel at the way God created everything we experience. We recognize and make known that no one or nothing can compare with our God.

Yes, when we are living under God’s desires and not our own, we experience the fullest relationship possible with Him short of living with Him forever, a possibility that will become a reality some day for all those who accept the salvation promise given by God in love, placing their faith and trust in His Son Jesus. We find ourselves blessed and fully grateful for all He has done. And we also find ourselves wanting to tell others about Him, to share how living out God’s desires has changed our lives in a special way.

Let’s take one last look at these words from the psalm:

I proclaim Your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as You know. I do not hide Your righteousness in my heart; I speak of Your faithfulness and Your saving help. I do not conceal Your love and Your faithfulness from the great assembly.

David couldn’t contain the joy in His heart from being fully obedient to the Lord. We won’t be able to either. For like David, we will want to proclaim God’s saving acts and the goodness found in His deliverance. We will want to speak boldly of God’s great faithfulness to us. And we will want to show everyone the love and righteousness He has placed in our hearts.

Friends, is there any better life we could hope for than a life fully committed to the God who is fully committed to us?

Frankly, it’s what everyone should desire.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com