In his book, Walking With
Christ In The Details Of Life, Patrick Morley tells of his struggle of
coming to grips with the truth of Psalm 37:4, which reads, Delight yourself
in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Morley said
that he had often put this promise before the Father concerning the many desires
of his heart. Desires for things, success, recognition, and accumulation. Most
times, his prayers went unanswered, causing him to doubt the truth of His Word.
One day though, the Lord opened his eyes, and he writes, "I discovered that it
was not that the verse was untrue, but that I had not yet penetrated the passage
deeply enough.....I had only superimposed my own expectations upon it. When it
didn't deliver, I assumed the verse was in error, not me." We see the word
"delight" to mean something that brings us great personal satisfaction. It's
root meaning in Hebrew however is to be "soft or pliable." To have our delight
in Him is for us to be like clay in the hands of the potter. We are yielded and
surrendered to however He wishes to shape us, and as we submit to the shaping,
we will need to say, many times, an ever deepening "yes" to His shaping. As
Morley says, "We become anxious for God to 'make me' rather than for Him to
'give me.' "
When we live in the place of the deeper yes our expectations change from being expectations of Him, to expectations in Him. Our desires change from being almost totally about ourselves and our lives, to about Him and His life. We desire what He desires both for us, and through us. We are soft and pliable in His hands, and to be shaped by Him is truly a delight to us. As our desires become one with His, we find that His Word is completely true, and that He does give us every desire of our hearts, because our heart and His are one. Along with this we discover that He gives us so many good things for our lives, things we never asked Him for, but that in His love and goodness He poured out upon us. This is where we find that His mercies to us really are new every day.
When we live in the place of the deeper yes our expectations change from being expectations of Him, to expectations in Him. Our desires change from being almost totally about ourselves and our lives, to about Him and His life. We desire what He desires both for us, and through us. We are soft and pliable in His hands, and to be shaped by Him is truly a delight to us. As our desires become one with His, we find that His Word is completely true, and that He does give us every desire of our hearts, because our heart and His are one. Along with this we discover that He gives us so many good things for our lives, things we never asked Him for, but that in His love and goodness He poured out upon us. This is where we find that His mercies to us really are new every day.
A great battle and controversy rages
in the church today as to the "inerrancy" of scripture. This is not a new
battle, and indeed has been going on since the devil first asked Eve in the
Garden, "Did God really say that?" I don't enter into this battle. I simply
choose to believe His Word. Yet I love what Morely said on this; "The Bible is
not in error, we are." Our great pride refuses to allow us to ever believe we
could be the ones who are wrong. So, if we're not, He must be. Yet, as Morely
says, "We are vapors that appear for a little while and then vanish, but the
word of God stands forever." Could it be that you're living in the midst of
such controversy right now? Things, life, aren't going as you'd desired and
expected. God has not been who you've wanted Him to be. Are you ready for Him
to be to you as He is? Are you ready, willing, to go to the place of the
deeper yes? To know, in that place, that He is true, and His promises
really all are "yes and amen."
Blessings,
Blessings,
Pastor O
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