Getting Job-ed
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV
This article is the flip side of the coin of a previous article Patience in Waiting for God. So, ideally, it would be great if you referenced back to that article (follow the link). The purpose of this article is not to deter you from making requests known to God or persevering in prayer/waiting for God’s hand to move (see the verses below). The purpose of this article is to deter us from making an idol out of whatever the request is that we’re waiting on. Nobody knows Austin better than me. Austin (me) is an idol factory: it’s my heart’s disposition to make an idol out of anything and everything other than God.
We Are Commanded To Ask
We are commanded by Scripture to ask for the things we want, so it’s an interesting thing to write an article on this topic. Check out these verses:
…You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:2-3 ESV
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 ESV
So let it be known, it is completely Scriptural to ask God what we want. Now it is another thing to completely rely on the Providence of God to either grant or deny according to His sovereign will (Psalm 115:3, Proverbs 16:9, Ephesians 1:11-12). That’s ultimately where our hearts should land when making requests known to God. Our hearts should reflect Jesus’ submission to the Father: “…Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42 ESV). Also, Job’s righteous response of, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21 ESV). We are to loosen the grip of our requests and leave them in the hands of a perfect Father who knows what is best.
Idol Worship
The way we react to not getting our way says a lot about the disposition of our hearts. It says a lot about what’s most valuable to us. Do you think that there is anything to the fact that God makes the first commandment of the Ten Commandments about our worship and keeping away from idols? God knows our hearts and our drive for satisfaction. We look to anywhere and anything else to fill the God-sized hole in our lives.
So, with our longings and desires, are they turning into our first loves? Are they taking the place of what’s truly satisfying? Does our very emotions, spiritual health, and overall happiness hang on these desires and getting what we want? Do we need to turn back to our first love, namely, Christ? Does our overall happiness lay in the prospect of a better job, lack of family issues, easy life, financial prosperity, ideal ministry, cars that don’t break down, health, trinkets, vacations, etc.? That’s Austin’s short list that tends to creep in. How about you?
Let’s let the Bible shape our theology:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” Matthew 22:36-38 ESV
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26-33 ESV
“Therefore I still contend with you, declares the LORD… Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2: 9, 12-13 ESV
Have you been making vessels that can’t hold water? Have you replaced your first Love?
What do we do?
Certainly not another try-harder campaign. The first thing we have to do is repent and turn back to our first Love. Before making any other effort, make this one. Certainly, this takes committed, faithful, disciplined effort. But the first place to go is to God Himself for forgiveness, not our own spiritual muscle. So turn back, repent, and believe the Good News that there is a God who forgives and loves (Mark 1:15, Ephesians 2:1-9).
Take a look at this lesson from Deuteronomy. It’s amazing, because the book of Deuteronomy is written for the Israelites, God’s chosen people that He brought out of the land of Egypt, who rebelled against Him after He rescued them, and totally did not wipe them out. Instead, He graciously allowed their next generation of people to enter the Promised Land (interesting, sounds like our story doesn’t it??!). Deuteronomy is written to keep the Israelites faithful to Yahweh as they move into the Promised Land. However, God is sovereign and knows they will not be faithful to Him, so He will bring about curses on them as righteous punishment. Check this out:
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. Deuteronomy 30:1-3 ESV
God sovereignly knows the disposition of our hearts and our tendancy for idol worship. We are to turn back to our first Love. We are to turn back to water that can truly satisfy. We are to make cisterns that can hold real Water. We are not trading something better for something good (our sin/desires in exchange for God). We are trading in for something better!
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 ESV
-Austin
