Welcome to the Encouragement for Today Devotion Readers. I'm glad you came over to my place today.
I got a call this week I've waited for over 15 years to get. And while I'm thrilled with possibility on one hand, I'm painfully aware of the great potential for disappointment on the other hand.
Why is it so stinkin' difficult when we build something up in our mind and then it all falls apart?
Because a small part of us thinks whatever we are hoping for will finally be the thing that fulfills us. And when we are denied the very thing we want so desperately, that raw place of desire aches in the most distracting way. Disappointment. Sadness. Grief.
Yes, as Christians only God is supposed to fill us. He can. He will. He does. But we often don't recognize his fulfillment as perfectly satisfying.
His fulfillment sometimes says no to our desires. And when God says no, it hurts. There's just no other way to wrap it.
But what if God's 'no,' is really a gift? His way to protect us from what we can not see, provide something better than we can imagine, or be part of the process of growing us closer to Him.
Sounds good. But I want it to feel good. So, how do we get from the raw hurt of disappointment to rejoicing in God's protection, provision and process?
We make the choice to delight ourselves in the Lord.
Delight as a verb means: to give great pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment to; to please highly. To delight in the Lord means to give him our pleasure- our satisfaction- our enjoyment- and to please him highly.
We offer these to him and ask him to redirect us- redirect our feelings.
"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart," Psalm 37:4.
This doesn't mean he'll give us whatever we desire. In a sense that would be cruel and dangerous.
This verse means the more we offer Him our pleasure, satisfaction, and delight as a surrendered gift, the more the desires we have will change to match His.
It's really a matter of trust.
And a matter of rightly placing our delight into the hands of the only One ever meant to hold the weight of something that precious.
Phone call? What phone call? I'm too busy steering my delight in the right direction. Take a message and I'll get back to them.
I got a call this week I've waited for over 15 years to get. And while I'm thrilled with possibility on one hand, I'm painfully aware of the great potential for disappointment on the other hand.
Why is it so stinkin' difficult when we build something up in our mind and then it all falls apart?
Because a small part of us thinks whatever we are hoping for will finally be the thing that fulfills us. And when we are denied the very thing we want so desperately, that raw place of desire aches in the most distracting way. Disappointment. Sadness. Grief.
Yes, as Christians only God is supposed to fill us. He can. He will. He does. But we often don't recognize his fulfillment as perfectly satisfying.
His fulfillment sometimes says no to our desires. And when God says no, it hurts. There's just no other way to wrap it.
But what if God's 'no,' is really a gift? His way to protect us from what we can not see, provide something better than we can imagine, or be part of the process of growing us closer to Him.
Sounds good. But I want it to feel good. So, how do we get from the raw hurt of disappointment to rejoicing in God's protection, provision and process?
We make the choice to delight ourselves in the Lord.
Delight as a verb means: to give great pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment to; to please highly. To delight in the Lord means to give him our pleasure- our satisfaction- our enjoyment- and to please him highly.
We offer these to him and ask him to redirect us- redirect our feelings.
"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart," Psalm 37:4.
This doesn't mean he'll give us whatever we desire. In a sense that would be cruel and dangerous.
This verse means the more we offer Him our pleasure, satisfaction, and delight as a surrendered gift, the more the desires we have will change to match His.
It's really a matter of trust.
And a matter of rightly placing our delight into the hands of the only One ever meant to hold the weight of something that precious.
Phone call? What phone call? I'm too busy steering my delight in the right direction. Take a message and I'll get back to them.
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