Desiring God

The LORD upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Psalm 145:14-16

Inspired by a tweet by Tedashii, I opened up this morning to Psalm 145. He had noticed verse 17, but this passage is what caught my eye especially after what we studied in Philippians in homegroup yesterday. The question was raised: why are we so easily satisfied? Or perhaps more accurately, why do we so quickly seek our satisfaction in things of this world, that we already know from our and others' experience will not satisfy?

To make it personal, why do I try to take refuge in things like money, working and performing when I know those will all betray me sooner or later?

Humans are proud and foolish; we were created to worship and serve, yet we try anything we can to exalt ourselves, to make ourselves great. As I wrote about earlier, I fooled myself into thinking that because things were going well, they were that way because I deserved it and they would be that way forever. Thankfully, God was gracious enough to not let me continue in that but shook me out and brought me back to Him. No matter what I do, how far I have tried to roam and what nonsense I've engaged in looking for peace, or joy, or anything good, the only satisfaction has been in God.

Jesus has never become boring, because each day He's revealed new truth to and about me. Jesus has never frustrated me except in such a way that it shows me where I'm sinning--and a way out, a way back to life. To be sure my relationship with Christ has been difficult, but not because of Him; it's been because learning to find real satisfaction in him, to stop grasping for the things I left behind when He found me originally, is damned hard. But He's enabled me to make each step and forgiven each fall by His great mercy, and I look forward to a day when my desire for Him is as great as those men whom I admire and read: Matt Chandler, John Piper, C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, the apostle Paul. I feel like the work required to get there is like giving me a table spoon and telling me to dig to China, yet I know that's a lie. Each day I pray to desire God, and I encourage you, the reader, to seek that as well.

Prayer requests for today: diligence at work, and that God would give opportunities for the gospel to be lived and spoken of, and that from that the Spirit would come onto that place and start to heal lives.

Waiting for the day

This morning Matt spoke about Colossians 1:24-26, and the reality of suffering. I wrote in my last post that pain entering my life taking away the things of this world I held dear was what brought me back to the reality of God, and Matt's words underscored that, as do his actions as a man suffering from cancer.

Our media is filled with images and descriptions of the pain and turmoil that is life on Earth. Americans are shielded from so much yet we still have our share, whether it's disease, murder, rape, neglect, or any of the other millions of names pain goes by in this world. As Paul wrote earlier in Colossians, these things combined with our separation from God in our hearts can drive us farther away. We want to have what's good, but what do we get? We lose everything--or we have it all but realize it's meaningless. Our children die--or they grow to hate us. Our relatives abuse us--or they fling us to the four winds never to know us. We grow old, get sick, and die, or just kick off one day by accident.

But what is the alternative? Where is our hope? Our hope is in knowing that we are meant to be eternal, though this world and these bodies are not. Our hope is in knowing God, and in knowing that because of His Son we can stand before Him justified, free from guilt, to enter life as it was meant to be. Life takes a lot of swings at me, but God has been gracious enough to help me remember what's bigger. More dangerous are those good times, but that's what each morning is for: new grace, new chapter of the Word, new prayers to say.

I'm 45 sermons into John Piper's Romans series now, and it's made a big impact on my thinking. I find that I'm able to break it all down much easier, and I find myself very grateful that God has graced us with men like him, able to explain things so clearly.

Prayer requests of my own, for those who are so inclined: we're auditioning some new drummers this week, so please pray that we'd be wise in choosing and that we would find someone that will help build up the group. After all we've been through it would be nice to find another person who will take joy in his work with us. Also, with the new season comes new stuff at work, pray for a drive to be diligent in everything. There are some other things, but I'll post about them later when they're more firm.