God's "Win-Win" Proposition to Us
Psalm 37: 3-4 "Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires."
Many people say they are Christians and that they follow God because of what they hear in the last statement above. They mistakenly believe that by agreeing to recognize God on some superficial level, they will get what they want.
What they envision as this "win-win" scenario between them and God resembles King Darius' requirement that no one in the kingdom will bow down and worship any god other than him. Of course, Daniel didn't follow this proclamation and was thrown in the lion's den as a result. The requirement was a purely superficial, action-based trade off- "if you do/don't do this, I will/will not do that."
Many people view God in the same light. "If I say I'm a Christian and go to church, God will make me rich, give me power and authority, etc." But this is not trusting or taking delight in the Lord. This is taking delight in what He can do, not who He is. This is deciding that the cost (calling yourself a Christian and going to church) is worth the reward you expect to get (wealth, power, etc.)
God asks us to worship who He is, not what He is capable of doing. We are to trust in Him, not His ability to do something for us. We are to take delight in Him, not what we think He will give us.
The last part of the verse is the real litmus test- "He will give you your heart's desires." This is the confusing part for so many of us. But the revelation to be gained here is that our hearts and the desires of our heart are not the same. When we have truly trusted in the Lord and we take delight in Him, our hearts are transformed. The desires that flow out of a transformed heart bear no resemblance to the desires of our sinful, selfish heart. If the desires look the same today as they did before, there's a valid question as to whether your heart has been transformed. And this leads to a bigger question about whether you have truly opened your heart to God and surrendered all.
If we truly desire Him, everything else becomes meaningless in comparison. If we truly desire more of Him, the circumstances in which He does this are at His discretion. If we find ourselves praying more about our circumstances than we do asking for more of Him, I'd submit that we are missing the point. If our hearts are in the right place, we would gladly trade wealth and power if He asked us to in order to gain more of Him. As hard as this sounds, we should not ask for an end to a trial in our lives if that trial is a means through which God is sharing more of Himself with us.
The psalmist leaves out the key component in the verses- that our trust and delight in Him purifies our hearts and transforms what our hearts desire. God will give us our transformed heart's desire, which is to have more of Him, not to gain wealth and earthly status.
Many people say they are Christians and that they follow God because of what they hear in the last statement above. They mistakenly believe that by agreeing to recognize God on some superficial level, they will get what they want.
What they envision as this "win-win" scenario between them and God resembles King Darius' requirement that no one in the kingdom will bow down and worship any god other than him. Of course, Daniel didn't follow this proclamation and was thrown in the lion's den as a result. The requirement was a purely superficial, action-based trade off- "if you do/don't do this, I will/will not do that."
Many people view God in the same light. "If I say I'm a Christian and go to church, God will make me rich, give me power and authority, etc." But this is not trusting or taking delight in the Lord. This is taking delight in what He can do, not who He is. This is deciding that the cost (calling yourself a Christian and going to church) is worth the reward you expect to get (wealth, power, etc.)
God asks us to worship who He is, not what He is capable of doing. We are to trust in Him, not His ability to do something for us. We are to take delight in Him, not what we think He will give us.
The last part of the verse is the real litmus test- "He will give you your heart's desires." This is the confusing part for so many of us. But the revelation to be gained here is that our hearts and the desires of our heart are not the same. When we have truly trusted in the Lord and we take delight in Him, our hearts are transformed. The desires that flow out of a transformed heart bear no resemblance to the desires of our sinful, selfish heart. If the desires look the same today as they did before, there's a valid question as to whether your heart has been transformed. And this leads to a bigger question about whether you have truly opened your heart to God and surrendered all.
If we truly desire Him, everything else becomes meaningless in comparison. If we truly desire more of Him, the circumstances in which He does this are at His discretion. If we find ourselves praying more about our circumstances than we do asking for more of Him, I'd submit that we are missing the point. If our hearts are in the right place, we would gladly trade wealth and power if He asked us to in order to gain more of Him. As hard as this sounds, we should not ask for an end to a trial in our lives if that trial is a means through which God is sharing more of Himself with us.
The psalmist leaves out the key component in the verses- that our trust and delight in Him purifies our hearts and transforms what our hearts desire. God will give us our transformed heart's desire, which is to have more of Him, not to gain wealth and earthly status.
posted by Robert Jory Allen at
4:18 AM
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