Do You Care About My Wants, Lord?

"Take delight in the Lord,

    and He will give you the desires of your heart."

-Psalm 37:4

As a young believer, I was told that this verse is not to be taken as, "oh if I do all of these 'religious things,' then I will get what I really want" -as if this was some type of: "If I scratch your back, you'll scratch mine" deal. 

Rather this passage was to be taken as, "When you learn to take delight in the Lord-like true delight, you know like that same delight you have for that crush, you will soon see that the desires of your heart is the Lord...what you want is what the Lord wants." 

So it becomes more of "I lay down what I want not because I know later you'll give them back to me, but because I don't need them...in fact, I don't want them...not as much as I want you, Lord."

So if this is true, does God not care about our wants at all?

Sure, He gives us what we need...and sometimes even then, what we say is a "need" He has a greater answer in store.

As I say this, we must keep in mind that ONLY good things come from the Father. James 1: 16-17

But back to our "wants" for the time being...

in most realms people would say "needs" trump "wants." Can we agree? Water trumps that new cell phone. Shelter trumps that gucci purse. Love trumps....

That, that is where the issue comes in. If you have read my past blog post Love you would know that I have discussed this before. 

But for a minute, let's think like the rest of world and just categorize love as sex-physical intimacy. 

Sex is a need. It is used for procreation. 

God from the very beginning said "Go, be fruitful and multiply..." (Genesis 1: 28).

God created sex for that reason.

But sex is also a want. 

And to too many of us...a very, very strong want.

And God created wants, didn't He?

Thus, sex is more than just used for procreation. He must have made it more beautiful than that. 

I don't believe that God would create something just for one reason. We are too much of a multifaceted/multifunctional/multipurposal creation-I believe that is also connected to "being the images of God."

It is here from this "rub" that we find our conflict. "God, I have these desires...that you created...but I have no need to procreate...I have no want to create...I just want the pleasure....What I do I do?"

Well, first let's look at our context in scripture:

 "Trust in the Lord and do good;

    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture."-verse 3

"Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in him and He will do this..."-verse 4

1.  You trust....trust like Abraham did when God said to sacrifice His only son and when he was about to strike Isaac upon the altar, God provided a lamb. Genesis 22: 1-14
2.  You take delight...take delight like Mary did in the things she did not understand where unfolding before her. Luke 2: 19
3.  You commit...commit like Peter did even when he failed, he got back up to accomplish the task set before him. Luke 22: 54-62

What does this have to do with you wanting sex or anything for that matter? 

You trust that God's ways are above your own-not only are they best because He says so, but because His ways help you in the end-Isaiah 55. 

You take delight in what God has already blessed you with and who He is-Psalm 1. 

You commit all of who you are to Him, for this is your true act of worship-Romans 12: 1-2

Sometimes this may require, however, using your rational (brain) over your heart....your emotions...those that which justify our wants too much.

Why, because once we surrender to God our desires we realize that with our wants-especially, in regards to sex, there is proper time and place for it/them.

 Jeremiah 17:9

"The heart is deceitful above all things

    and beyond cure.

    Who can understand it?"

As a believer, it is our heart we still wrestle with...our core...for our core is us...still broken individuals. Yes, we have wants. Yes, God created those wants. But our nature says "I want it now!" It actually puts up a fight, like a raging toddler and screams: "GIVE IT TO ME!" This is what Paul is hinting at in Romans 7: 14-25 , but what he says we must put away  1 Corinthians 13:11-12. 

Ours minds, however, which as believers are being renewed through the Holy Spirit as we seek our Father daily and allow His love to embrace us in return, are going to think with this new found wisdom. This wisdom which we find in the Word says begins with "fearing the Lord." Proverbs 9:10

We must train ourselves in this way:

2 Corinthians 10: 5

"We demolish arguments and every pretension 

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, 

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

James 4:10

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

Hebrews 6:10

"God is not unjust; 

He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him 

as you have helped his people and continue to help them."

James 1:5-6

"If any of you lacks wisdom, 

you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, 

and it will be given to you.

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt."

Ecclesiastes 3:11

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet

no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Song of Songs 8:4

"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:

    Do not arouse or awaken love

    until it so desires."

God knows everything about you Psalm 139....He created you and loves you. He knows what you need and what you want. He wants you to trust Him...to keep seeking Him. 

He will bless you with those wants in His timing and they will be great!!!

Remedy

As she picks up that silver blade once again,
These words ring in her frazzled head-
Not the ones of regret,
Not the ones of shame,
Her past doesn't call her name.
Rather it's her Beloved,
The One there from the very start,
The One always mending her aching heart.

The Spirit says:
"I know your pain-
I can take it,
I can take it.
I feel your sorrow-
Let me take it,
Let me take it.
I hear your cries-
I will take them,
I will take them."

She puts the razor away.
A cut doesn't change a thing.
This blood can't wash the
scarlet stain.
She hurts, but is held-
He calls her "treasured."
She weeps but is healed-
He calls her "redeemed."
Walking through her yesterdays,

Falling into this familiar warm embrace,
Clinging to a future
without disgrace
She sings:
"You can take it
You can take it."

Luke 20

Luke 20: 1-26

Moving backwards, we can find ourselves asking: "What is God's?"

In the parable Jesus points out a vineyard. Do you recall other times Jesus spoke about a vineyard? John 15: 1-17-only in this parable Jesus points out that we (the people, the world, followers/disciples & all) are the branches and He is the "True Vine."

Jesus says in our context in Luke, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and God, what is God's." Who is Jesus addressing? =The scribes and chief priests...the head honchos of the religious world in their culture/city.

The religious leaders were trying to trip Jesus up, catch Him saying something wrong. Instead, like always, Jesus was one step ahead of them per say.

"Whose image is on here?" Jesus asks those "pretending to be righteous" in response to their question about paying taxes.

I see everything flowing together here. You see, the political leaders had control of the people's money, but the religious people had "control" of the people's spirituality. Jesus saw and called out this corruption before he said a word about the government.

"Give God back His people." Jesus seems to say. Look again at the parable. The man who planted represents God. The tenant farmers=the spiritual leaders. The slaves sent to collect the harvest=the Old Testament prophets. The son=Jesus.

Going back to the rulers, Jesus doesn't say we shouldn't serve them. This is again emphasized later in the New Testament-Romans 13: 1-7

But should we serve those who go against God's laws regardless of the fact that God has allowed them to come into power?

Remember the story of Daniel?-Daniel chapter 1 and chapter 6

When is it right to obey and disobey our government? Is this even a question we should ask, why or why not?

Jesus's approach and mentality seems to portray the same as Moses in the movie Prince of Egypt (1998) :

 "Yes...it's true. Pharaoh has the power. He can take away your food, your home, your freedom. He can take away your sons and daughters. With one word, Pharaoh can take away your very lives. But there is one thing he cannot take away from you: your faith. Believe, for we will see God's wonders."

What is eternal then? We are. What exactly about us is eternal? Our soul. What percisiously is our soul? It's what make you, you; it's what is on the inside...This is what God desires. The rulers of this world will try their best to take it away from us, but again scripture holds your answer: Eph. 6:12 and Luke 12:4 -while we look back at the previous chapters in Luke, do you remember the parable of the 10 minas? Luke 19: 11-27 It's a brutal one in the end, but again the main point is giving back to the Master/King what they asked for.

If you are in a religious leadership position, may you know that they people you "shepard" are not your "flock"-they are the Lord's. Give back to God what is God's. 

If you are not in a leadership position, may you know that you still have an important job to accomplish. Multiply="Go and make disciples, baptising them of every nation in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit...and love as I have loved, for they will know you are mine by your actions."-Jesus

This is how we obtain heaven on earth. The very thing you pray for religiously, "the Lord's Prayer":

"Our Father, who are in heaven.

Hallowed by your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done-

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread

and forgive our tresspasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory

forever and ever. Amen." 

The government was suppose to help the people do God's will (when we look back into why the Hebrews wanted leaders in the Old Testament), but God knew that these leaders would only focus on the outward/physical things concerning man and not the internal/spiritual-where the real work needed to take place.

Why allow them then? Can our actions ever transform our hearts? Can the hands ever move first before the brain?

All in all, we can find ourselves asking again: does the end justify the means? Does some good (speaking still of having government) outweigh all the bad?

I don't have the answers, but I'm looking. That's where many people fail. They say, "I don't know." and then never seek.

The same can be said to my next question. How many times have you heard or thought in some way, shape, or form this: Does the Father's will become changed or "tainted" by His love for His children?

You have heard or seen stories where although love is great, it seems to be blind. Does God's love for us trump His righteousness? Some could say that love is really a weakness. Think about it. How would you describe love? To me, it is a giving of one's self to another for their greater good. Hadn't God done that? 

However, let's refresh our theology for a minute. Yes, our God is love...but He is not love as we have come to understand love. His love empowers. His love is infinite and unyielding. He can give and give and give, but His "well" will never run dry. He wants you, yes. He doesn't need to you though. Yet, this distinction doesn't diminish His desire for you. That desire is more for our fulfillment than His, but it is all for His glory.

Main jest, God loves us. God love you. And we were created to love; many of the scripture I shared with you elluded to that.

If we look back at our tenant farmers (who remember, are representing the religious leaders), what could we say they were motivated by? They chose to fight and kill...hmmm possibly a reflection of they have been taught by the government? Either way...could we truly say they were motivated by love? Or would fear be more accurate? Fear of perhaps not having enough to themselves? Fear that the Farmer would cheat them? Fear that the Farmer would really see that they weren't "the best of the best" and thus, would take away their share?

Fear seems to be cover up...a cover up for what's really going on in the inside. A cover up similar to Adam and Eve's "fashioned leaves to hide their nakedness." A curious thought, huh?

If only they would have acknowledged the Farmer's great generosity in putting them in the garden...I mean vineyard in the first place....If only we...I mean they...would have recognized the fulfillment they already had in the Farmer's care....how He not only provided them with a job, but a mission...not just a mission, but a purpose...still not just a purpose, but a calling...an identity. 

Instead the people let their doubts trump their faith when they in their hearts rationalized within their own wisdom: "Why should we toil over serving others...why should we toil in serving someone we don't even see...why should we toil at all?...There is no ruler...There is no God...we are alone in this...We should take over all of this...we will be our own gods."

It's amazing to me how we can ask and rationalize towards this deep, dark hole but still God gave his only begotten son to come and die for our sins. 

"...teach truthfully the way of God..." said the spies in our reading. 

Truthfully, we suck. But in God's great mercy for us, while we were still sinners, He came to make us righteous through Jesus's resurrection.

"..stop speaking in parables..." they said. 

But could they...can we handle the truth? The truth being that it is only through grace you have been saved, not but works and that nothing in heaven or hell, things present nor things to come can ever separate you from the love of God? 

Where does this all leave me???

I can't help but keep coming back to, "Give God what is God's."

It's not just about my service...my "religious duties"...although faith without works is dead. James 2: 14-26

Instead, like I have "preached" from the beginning....it's an internal thing...it's all about my heart & mind.

"Love the Lord your God

with all your

heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength." 

I don't know about you, but I am a worker...and I am ready for the harvest. Not only that, but I will produce fruit for my King.

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