One friend said, “I don’t think I could take it if I lost my son.” Another, “I haven’t talked to God about my wedding because I’m so afraid He’ll jerk it away from me.”
Could I? It’s a question I ask myself. Would I be willing to trust God if He granted me a dream, then took it? Or can I trust God now? I’ve thought about it. What if He took my parents, that piece of solid rock that never changes for this girl who hates change? Or what if my dearest of dear friends turned on me? What if?
Or what of now? I found a root of bitterness in my heart when I commented, “Well, no one wants to hear my testimony about trusting God with your love life ‘cause no one wants to wind up like me!” and that made me think...
Do we still love God when our dreams don’t come true?
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His goal is not our happiness, it’s our holiness.
I heard the phrase somewhere and wondered if it held true to the Scriptures. Alert as I read, I realized...
He works all thing together for the good of those CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE. Did you get that? According to His purpose. Not our pleasure. And He grants the desires of our heart when... when our delight is in HIM. His Person. His Presence. And He is holy.
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And then I read Ezekiel. Chapter 24, verses 16-18. God told Ezekiel he would take “desire of his eyes.” His wife was not a burden, nor a negotiable. She was his dream. He was not to mourn but rather - to go forward.
What? How? We are not told, only that
[he] did in the morning as [he] was commanded.
Ezekiel trusted God when his dreams didn’t come true.
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Scripture doesn’t say God explained to Ezekiel all of His plan before implementing it. It’s pretty clear that Ezekiel walked by faith, not by sight. He loved God not for his own happiness but for God’s HOLINESS. Holy. Set apart. Different. Outside humanness.
God did reveal His purpose. He was teaching the people not to mourn for their possessions or their families, “earthly treasure” if you will, but to
“pine away for your iniquities and mourn toward another..." In that day Ezekiel would be a sign to them and they would know that He was the Lord. (v. 23, 27).
Ezekiel was laying up treasure in heaven. He delighted in the Lord, not in the desires held or granted. And God worked - all things together for good according to HIS purpose.
We don’t know what Ezekiel got out of it, but we know the rebellious received the kingdom benefit. And we know that God does not forget a labor of love.
All things for good, for those who are called according to His purpose... to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29), to fill up the afflictions of Christ (Col. 1:24). To be like Jesus. And in Jesus is joy. Joy bigger, joy deeper, joy greater than happiness - in Jesus. And Jesus is - holy.
Do I trust God when my dreams don’t come true?
He is making me. Not happy. Holy.
1 comment:
Wow. Ouch. Did you have to share this, Becca? :wink: I had never thought about the fact that God wanted to make us Holy above Happy. (although I just butchered the words!) I do know that God has show me that they verse "He will give you the desires of your heart" has way more then we tend to use. We forget that we have to align ourselves with Him first, then He will give us our desires. Which really means, we align ourselves with Him, which aligns our hearts, which aligns our desires to what He wants for us which He then gives to us.
Too many times our hearts want silly fru-fru things- longer hair, amazing musical ablilites, great conversation, etc. But He wants us to have hearts of compassion, eyes that see people's hurts, a joyfilled soul, etc. Like you said, the things that matter.
Sorry if that rambled a bit! Beautiful post, Becca, even if I may not like you for a while because of it!!! (hahaha, OK, OK, I still love you. :D) These are hard posts to write as you feel like you may "hurt" someone, but they are the ones that most need to be written. Thanks for being courageous!
Love ya!
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