My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Psalms 84: 2 (ESV)
Scripture: Psalms 84: 1-12
A characteristic of today’s world seems to be that we want more than we have. Is this longing for more, in and of itself, wrong? This devotion looks at what part longing should play in our lives.
If you are like me, you evaluate your life to see what is going right, what is missing, where you should be serving, etc. For me, I know how easy it is to get knocked off track.
Satan wants us to not be doing what God wants us to be doing. I like to take inventory and make sure I am listening to God and not Satan.
I am reading Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling. It was one of my Christmas presents from my secret pal from church. Confession time: I was a little — no, I was way — behind in my reading because of the move.
In one of the devotions, Sarah made the comment that God does not expect us to judge and evaluate ourselves. That hit me. I get where Sarah said we are not supposed to judge ourselves against other people. I also get where we are not to compare ourselves with other people.
But aren’t we supposed to figure out if we are doing God’s Will? So, I am going to process here. Lucky you gets to help me work through this. How many times have I said these devotions start with God talking to me?
Do Not Judge
Luke 6: 37 says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged …” (NIV). I get that meaning we can’t trash other people because there is something about them that is different from us. I bet God will judge us as harshly, if not more, as we judge others.
I get that we aren’t in competition with others. They are no better or worse than us, just as we are no better or worse than them. We all have gifts, and we all have things on which God wants us to work.
I get that we should be content in our own lives. Philippians 4: 12 says, “I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content —- whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need” (NIV). Whatever we are going through at the moment, we are to accept it as God’s plan for our lives.
But are we just supposed to be complacent in our own lives? Because isn’t that how we mainly judge ourselves — if there is something more we are supposed to be doing or need? Aren’t we supposed to want to grow? If we do not judge ourselves, how do we know in what area and how much we need to grow?
Are we not supposed to long for something more? Didn’t God make us to want more?
Definitions
Okay, I work best when things are defined. So, bear with me. Judge means to discern or decide. Longing means to desire or yearn for more. Grow means to increase, thrive, or become. Content means not looking for change because you are happy with how things are. Complacent also means you are so satisfied with the status quo, but it means that you do not try harder.
I Have This Longing in My Heart
I believe it is not wrong to long for something. In fact, God made us to long — for more intimate relationships, for rewarding work, for pure joy.
God specifically made Eve so Adam would not be alone. Genesis 2: 18 says, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (NASB). God wanted the couple to love and encourage each other to become a unit (that is the growing as one part in Genesis 2: 24) while they grew as individuals. He made us to be together with others.
Even if we do not have a special someone in our lives at the moment, it is part of God’s plan that we have fellowship with others. Philippians 1: 3-5 says, “I thank my God for you every time I think of you; and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now” (GNT). We are supposed to work together in spreading the gospel.
We have work in God’s kingdom that is assigned to us. “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do” (Heb. 6: 10 ESV). God uses us to further His kingdom.
We were also made with specific secular jobs in mind. We know God has a plan for our lives (Jer. 29: 11), and we know God does not expect us to us all to be preachers and missionaries. He expects us to meet people where they are.
However, some think their secular job is not a calling. Yet, that job can be our ministry. There are several verses that talk about ordinary life and work.
Romans 12: 1 says, “Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering” (MSG). God plans to use us where we are planted because God does not make the distinction between secular and sacred. Colossians 3: 23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (NIV).
When we work for the Lord in whatever capacity, He will bless us. “You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake” (Deut. 15: 10 ESV).
We Need To Long For God
Most importantly, the focus of our longing needs to be on God. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt. 5: 6 ESV). We must focus on learning more about Him, discerning His Presence in our lives, and determining what He would have us do.
It is God’s goal for our lives that we grow in grace and knowledge of Him.“ Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God” (Heb. 6: 1 ESV). We are to grow in knowledge of Him to ensure that we can withstand the trials we will face.
Then Everything Else Will Come
Only when our relationship is right with God can we start to see that longing for things in this world filled. “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37: 4 ESV). Delight means pleasure or gratification.
Everything else will come through the blessings God lavishes on us. He has so much He wants to give us. Sometimes, we forget to ask Him to bless us.
We have to make sure we remember that things of this world will not complete us. “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Eph. 3: 19-20 NLT). Only God can complete us and make us into the beings He intended. Our focus has to be on Him.
So, if we want more in our lives, that more should be God. Everything else will happen according to our plans. God will bless us and reward us for faithful service. That will be enough.
Father. “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ [Our hearts say] to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do [we] seek’” (Ps. 27: 8 ESV). “And God [we know You are] able to give [us] more than [we] need, so that [we] will always have all [we] need for [ourselves] and more than enough for every good cause” (II Cor. 9: 8 GNT). We long for You, Lord. We seek You to grow us to be who we should. Show us the areas in which we need to grow closer to Your image. Help us to align our desires to Yours. Amen.
What do you think? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you have not signed up for the email providing the link to the daily devotion and the monthly newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.