SUSTAINING DESIRE

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In Christ, Mark

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

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in Your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.  Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building You a temple for Your Holy Name comes from Your hand, and all of it belongs to You. I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of Your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”

Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the Lord and the king.

1 Chronicles 29:14-20

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

In general, most people have a problem with desire.

Not that people have a problem desiring things because that certainly is not the case. There is no shortage of things available for us to desire.

We can desire to find the love of our life and live with them forever in joy and happiness.

We can desire to become rich some day and be able to afford anything we want.

We can desire great success in our work, hoping to climb the ladder to higher positions and pay.

We can desire to have children to raise up into adulthood.

We can desire any number of possessions that the world has to offer, so much so that we always find ourselves in a spirit of wanting.

And we can desire a relationship with the Lord, hoping to grow closer in our walk with Him.

I could go on but you get the point. We all seem to desire something.

So what’s the problem with desire?

It is more often than not short lived.

You see, we either seem to have trouble staying satisfied or we give up too easily. In this age where instant gratification seems to be to standard, our desires typically need to be fulfilled quickly or we lose interest in that desire and plan to go after another one. We aren’t willing in most cases to stay committed for the long haul.

If you don’t believe that, look at how many marriages are ending in divorce. It’s really disheartening sometimes to see what has happened to the institution of marriage. When couples don’t get along or when their desires seem to be better met with another person, they just leave and move on.

Or consider how a person always needs to have the newest product out there, even if they have a perfectly good item that preceded the new product (Cars and video game systems are two of the best examples I can offer).

Or ponder how people never seem to have enough money. We never get satisfied with just living within our means but we need more and more and more money. It’s little wonder Jesus spoke on this matter, referring to money as a master over some people and warning that one cannot serve two masters. We have to choose between God and money (Matthew 6:24).

Or think about a person’s faith in the Lord. How many people have sworn their allegiance to Him only to stray away, lured by the trappings and temptations of the world?

Yes, in general we struggle with sustaining desire. And it isn’t just an issue contained in present times. As we look at our passage from 1 Chronicles, Chapter 29, we find David concerned about the matter as he prays with the Israelites. Look at his words:

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in Your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.  Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building You a temple for Your Holy Name comes from Your hand, and all of it belongs to You. I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of Your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”

Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the Lord and the king.

You’ll recall from the earlier verses in this chapter that David provided an abundance of valuable materials for the construction of the holy temple that Solomon would have built for the Lord. He gave gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and other treasured items and then encouraged the Israelites to do the same. We then read where they did just that with most of Israel’s powerful leaders contributing as David did, giving their treasures to the Lord for use in His soon-to-be built sanctuary.

And it wasn’t that the people felt compelled to give just because the man who had been their king for so long had done so. No, scripture tells us that they gave willfully and joyfully, rejoicing in the Lord and worshipping Him with praise and offerings out of their desire for Him, returning a portion of what was rightfully His.

David wasn’t worried about the people desire for the Lord at this point but we sense he was concerned about whether they would sustain their desire afterwards. This is why he asked God to “keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of Your people forever and keep their hearts loyal to you.” David obviously had concerns as to how the people of Israel would relate to God after he passed away and as we look at the history of the Israelites afterwards, his concerns were definitely well founded as it would be the misdirected desires of Israel toward other gods that would get them in big trouble with the God who commanded them to have no other gods before Him.

Today, I think David would have the same concerns with God’s people. He would see that we, in many cases, have not kept our desires for the Lord in our hearts. He would lament over how we have become more loyal to the world and its desires than to the One who made the world and reigns over it. And he would rue over our future, knowing that the Lord will not stand for a people to disrespect Him and shun righteousness for sinfulness.

Friends, the Lord and the Lord alone is deserving of all our desire. He has provided us more than we could ever hope for by sending His Son Jesus to pay the sin penalty we deserved, rescuing us from wrath and destruction while offering us life eternal with Him when this worldly life ends. With this, our one and only desire should be to worship and serve Him, sustaining this desire during every day He blesses us with.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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