"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."
Psalms 37:5
There is a lot of good advice in this Psalm, and this isn't even the best of it, but this verse struck me today because I think we have a lot of internal struggle between what we want and what God wants, and those conflicts sometimes cause us massive stress and even despair, because we feel that we are being torn in half, having to choose between two things that we want very badly, perhaps more than life itself. And only one of those things is God.
So, first of all, that kind of being torn in half is the very definition of idolatry. When we want anything so much that we are comparing our love of it to the love of God, then that is an idol in our lives. And we do have to make a choice between God and... not God, which is basically (and literally) hell.
Without choosing to reject God (which is always the very, very worst option), there are two ways to get through these conflicts without tearing ourselves apart. The first is to get God's help to change our hearts and our minds. This is an utterly valid approach, and it can work. Using adultery as an example, if we are drawn to someone outside the bounds of a marriage relationship approved by God, then, no matter how strong that desire is or how much it feels to us like exactly what we want or need, choosing that over God is choosing an idol in our lives. It isn't easy, especially if we have let it go on for too long or gotten too deep into that mindset, but if we go to God for help, he can teach us and help us to not want that anymore, and to desire something better. It might take years, but it is possible.
The other way through is to ask God to help us to find a righteous way to fulfil our needs and good desires. Often, even the worst desires are just twisted versions of valid needs or righteous desires that we didn't know how to fulfil... sometimes we only perceive the hole in our hearts and we honestly don't know how to fill it, and we try in the wrong way, and when it helps relieve the ache even for a few seconds, we think... oh, this must be the right track, I just need more and more and more of this thing. And part of what we aren't seeing is that the hole in our hearts is exactly God-sized, and he is always the answer. :) But the other part is that there are other things that God wants us to have as well, and that aren't bad things at all. Maybe that desire that is drawing us towards adultery is just a righteous desire that we need to re-route in a righteous direction. Maybe it is hard to find the righteous desire underneath the sin, but that's another thing that God can help us with. He loves us and he wants us to find ways to fulfil our righteous desires.
The same goes with things that aren't sins, but that we might feel like we have to give up to become "adults" in our society. Creativity and imagination and our artistic sides might not be the most lucrative choices in life, but if we go to God and we trust him with our heart's desire and ask him to help us find us a righteous way to work it into our lives, I guarantee you that God will help us find a righteous place for that desire if it is possible, and if it isn't, he will help us understand why it has to go. Either way, God will find a way to heal our hearts, and help us to be happy with our choices. We won't have to feel torn apart forever if we turn to the Lord.
Today, let's commit to the Lord. Let's trust him with our direction and our righteous desires. Let's get help from him to change our hearts when we want bad things, and let him help us figure out how to fit the good things in. As we trust him, and commit "our way" to him, he *will* bring it to pass. :) ...
Psalms 37:5
There is a lot of good advice in this Psalm, and this isn't even the best of it, but this verse struck me today because I think we have a lot of internal struggle between what we want and what God wants, and those conflicts sometimes cause us massive stress and even despair, because we feel that we are being torn in half, having to choose between two things that we want very badly, perhaps more than life itself. And only one of those things is God.
So, first of all, that kind of being torn in half is the very definition of idolatry. When we want anything so much that we are comparing our love of it to the love of God, then that is an idol in our lives. And we do have to make a choice between God and... not God, which is basically (and literally) hell.
Without choosing to reject God (which is always the very, very worst option), there are two ways to get through these conflicts without tearing ourselves apart. The first is to get God's help to change our hearts and our minds. This is an utterly valid approach, and it can work. Using adultery as an example, if we are drawn to someone outside the bounds of a marriage relationship approved by God, then, no matter how strong that desire is or how much it feels to us like exactly what we want or need, choosing that over God is choosing an idol in our lives. It isn't easy, especially if we have let it go on for too long or gotten too deep into that mindset, but if we go to God for help, he can teach us and help us to not want that anymore, and to desire something better. It might take years, but it is possible.
The other way through is to ask God to help us to find a righteous way to fulfil our needs and good desires. Often, even the worst desires are just twisted versions of valid needs or righteous desires that we didn't know how to fulfil... sometimes we only perceive the hole in our hearts and we honestly don't know how to fill it, and we try in the wrong way, and when it helps relieve the ache even for a few seconds, we think... oh, this must be the right track, I just need more and more and more of this thing. And part of what we aren't seeing is that the hole in our hearts is exactly God-sized, and he is always the answer. :) But the other part is that there are other things that God wants us to have as well, and that aren't bad things at all. Maybe that desire that is drawing us towards adultery is just a righteous desire that we need to re-route in a righteous direction. Maybe it is hard to find the righteous desire underneath the sin, but that's another thing that God can help us with. He loves us and he wants us to find ways to fulfil our righteous desires.
The same goes with things that aren't sins, but that we might feel like we have to give up to become "adults" in our society. Creativity and imagination and our artistic sides might not be the most lucrative choices in life, but if we go to God and we trust him with our heart's desire and ask him to help us find us a righteous way to work it into our lives, I guarantee you that God will help us find a righteous place for that desire if it is possible, and if it isn't, he will help us understand why it has to go. Either way, God will find a way to heal our hearts, and help us to be happy with our choices. We won't have to feel torn apart forever if we turn to the Lord.
Today, let's commit to the Lord. Let's trust him with our direction and our righteous desires. Let's get help from him to change our hearts when we want bad things, and let him help us figure out how to fit the good things in. As we trust him, and commit "our way" to him, he *will* bring it to pass. :) ...
No comments:
Post a Comment