Tag: Fully

Desires of the Heat

How many of us wish that all our desires come true, especially those that we desire deep in our hearts. I know that I do. There are a lot of things that I desire for to come true in my life. I desire for millions of dollars. I desire for the ability to travel the world with Lori, cause that is what she wants. I desire to be seen in the world as bigger than life and the envy of all I come in contact with. But are these really those things that are of my heart or are they of some other motivation.

“3Trust in the LORD, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4Delight yourself in the LORD,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

— Psalm 37:3-4 (ESV)

Well, as you can see in the above verse, the way to get that which we desire in our hearts is to delight in the LORD and trust in Him. I think that we are of the opinion that if we simply say those things, then He will make them come to pass. But in order to receive the desires of our heart, our heart has to be fully given to and filled with the LORD. We have to fully “trust” in Him. We have to fully “delight” in Him. We have to fully “befriend faithfulness” in Him. And then He will give us the desires of our heart which are rooted in the glory of the LORD.

“5Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him, and he will act.

6He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as the noonday.”

— Psalm 37:5-6 (ESV)

It is a commitment to the LORD, not just a statement to Him. I commit to Him and He commits to me. I give Him all of me and He gives me all of Him. Once those conditions have been met, the LORD will provide all that I desire as what I desire will be Him.

I know, in this world it is hard to get along without the physical things that society indicates we should have. But is it all about the physical things. I know many people that have joy abounding in their lives without all the “finer” things. They have their relationship with the LORD and He provides all that they need. When they have a desire for something, the LORD fills that desire with what He know will be used for His glory and the people know that all they have received is for the LORD and His glory.

The desires of the heart are provided by the LORD when we give ourselves to Him fully. When we are in need, the LORD will fill that need knowing that all glory will be given to Him.

What are your desires? Are you expecting that all desires are filled so that you can have it all? What if you were to give yourself to the LORD fully in your heart and allow Him to fill your heart and all the desires there that will be used to bring Him glory?

Follow the Word of the LORD Fully

Guys, I know that we are prone to looking at the pictures found in instructions as opposed to reading the instructions themselves (Haha, just kidding, but not really). Where this is adequate for getting things started, there may be things that are missed or that we do not fully complete in the process of working through those things. Well, Saul was one of us in that he did not fully follow the instructions given to him.

The bible passage I was led to this morning is titled, “Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice” in my ESV Bible. You see, Saul’s son, Jonathan had defeated a garrison of the Philistines and they regrouped and were preparing a fight. Saul was looking for direction and protection from the LORD. He was instructed to wait seven days for Samuel to come and lead the interaction with the LORD. And this is where Saul skips to the end and missed a piece of the instructions. He waited seven days, and then took things into his own hands, only as he was wrapping up, Samuel arrived. You cannot unburn a sacrifice and therefore Samuel would not be able to fully lead the interaction with the LORD.

“13And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.’” – 1 Samuel 13:13-14 (ESV)

This was the beginning of the end of Saul’s reign as king. He did not follow the LORD fully and missed out. Saul was impatient and thought that he knew the way. He was going to get what was his and did not want to miss out because Samuel did not make it on time (at least what he thought was on time). He moved to the end of the instructions, skipping the important part of following the Word of the LORD as given to him by Samuel.

I have learned in my over 50 years that you better follow the instructions to the letter. I have learned that having the right tool for the job is important. I have learned not to cut corners as there is a reason for the way things are done. I have learned to follow the LORD fully, even when it may not make sense or seems to be taking too long.

God knows the full story and we just know what is right now. Yes, we are to concern ourselves with the now as the past cannot be fixed and the future is not known, but, we also have to understand that there are things we do not and will not know until the LORD reveals them. God’s instructions to us may seem incomplete, but are they. Maybe, just maybe, we should read His Word and follow Him fully to make sure that we do not miss anything and get to the result that He has for this instance and for us.

What is you view of instructions? Are you a rush to the end kind of person that feels as they know what the outcome is supposed to be? What if you followed the LORD fully and allowed Him to reveal the truth and outcome as it is and not as we want it to be?