A Lesson on Desire

It's interesting how sometimes the same topic keeps cropping up. I have been learning a lot about how to deal with unsatisfied desires / wishes lately. Circumstances for one, but the topic also keeps popping up in my Bible reading and in my home group. So I thought I'd share~

The conclusion I keep coming to is this: wait for God to fulfill your wishes for you, instead of taking things for yourself.
_{Though I think there are times where we should take initiative - we need discernment to know when, though.}

Some months back, Psalm 37 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?… became really important to me, in particular v.4: Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
GOD needs to be our priority (Remember also Seek ye first the Kingdom of God... Mt 6:33) - if we put Him first, He will also give us what we long for.

I took a look at the context of Psalm 37:4 and learnt from v. 3-8 what else we should do while "waiting" for Him to fulfill what we're wishing for:
TRUST in the Lord (v. 3 + 5)
OBEY – do good (v. 3)
JOY in the Lord – He should be our priority (v. 4)
PATIENCE (v. 7-8)

I have learnt a lot from Matthew 4:1-11 (the tempting of Jesus) too. The devil suggests to Jesus (who has been fasting for more than a month and must be starving) to make Himself bread out of rocks (v. 3) – Jesus does not do it. Look at v. 11: Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. "Ministered to Him" I understand as meaning they brought Him food. Think also of how the devil told Jesus he'd give him dominion over all nations if He bowed to him – Jesus said no. But now after going through suffering and death on the cross, Jesus is lifted high above everything else, and reigns over all the world (Philippians 2)!
Jesus did not take these things for Himself, but waited for God to give it to Him in the right time – even though it meant going through pain first.
For us, that also means: waiting for God to provide for us, instead of grabbing the things we want for ourselves. God has many blessings in store for us. If we take them for ourselves, they lose their value – it needs to come from His hands.

Last night in home group we looked at greed. I came to these conclusions about what greed is:
Greed is impatience – wanting things NOW. Instead, we should be patient and wait for God's time.
Greed is distrust – not trusting God to provide and to give us what we need, when we need it. Instead, we should trust Him, and hold tight to His promises.
Greed is ungratefulness – being blind to the things I already have. Instead, I should count my blessings and thank God for what He has already provided.


So, what to do with my wishes?

Know that God provides. He knows what is best for you, what you need, and what you want. He doesn't always give us everything we desire. But we can trust Him to give us those things that are good for us. He is our Father – a father does not give his children a rock when they ask for bread (Lk 11:11).

We just need to be patient and wait for His time. And our desires should not fill us up so much that we only think about them all the time – instead we should put God first, not forget to be thankful for what we already have, trust Him to answer our prayers, and obey God and walk with Him. My desires should not distract me from my Christian walk, or fill my mind so much that I have time for little else...



It's crazy, I just realised I have been learning and re-learning and re-re-learning this for the past how-many months. In fact I had completely forgotten that I had already learnt in December the stuff I "discovered" last night... Here's why God has to keep bringing the topic up again – because I keep forgetting again and again. Aiyoh...


About the prayer request in the last journal: things are looking up – but still unclear. It all ties in with this topic a bit. I'm just realising I can't control what's going on; I need to leave it all in God's hands and trust Him with the future. I worry too much, and I overanalyse a lot of stuff. I'm finding it hard to let go and let God, though it's getting better again. Thanks for all the prayers.