Monday 22 July 2013

Getting What You Want

"What you want a nanosecond before you even knew you wanted it...Modern luxury." So goes the ad for Celebrity Cruises. If you've ever had to wait too long to get something you wanted, you might be tempted to book yourself a cruise. 

The ad writers are wrong, though. Sometimes God, like Celebrity Cruises, gives me what we want before I know I want it. It doesn't feel good. Getting what you want before you know you want it isn't as comfortable as it seems like it should be. Satisfaction corresponds to desire. Nobody looks for hardship when they are on vacation, but the reality is that you appreciate things to the degree that you've had to go without them.

But unlike Celebrity, God reads my deep heart. He knows, even when I don't, what I really desire.

This life is not meant to be a cruise, and God is not about providing us with modern luxury, but the real luxury is that the God who is Good has promised to make everything in my life work together for Good. Everything. The hard things, and the uncomfortable things, and the things that make me cry and want to run far away.

That's luxury.
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing. (Psalm 34:8-9)

2 comments:

mama said...

Keep writing, Jen. You bring forth praise to God for you and your lovely spirit. Oh, the blessedness of knowing Him who is the Alpha and Omega! He will make all things plain one day and we will fall at His feet and adore Him for not giving us what we thought we wanted.

joeyanne said...

I love this!! It is undeniably true. He DOES give us what we desire, and he gives us good desires. Psalm 103 - He satisfies my desires with GOOD things. I often don't feel like this is true, but I know that it is. Thanks for the reminder.