In Psalm 23 it says, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want." During this phase in life in which I find life extremely difficult, having a wife with chronic health issues that really limits life... it is hard to fathom "not being in want." How can I not want something good and as natural as feeling good. The scripture makes it pretty clear that God enjoys blessing his people by giving them children... how could you "not be in want" if you were desiring this but couldn't have children?
During a group Bible study, some men, who are a little further along in life than I, talked about when their teenage daughters were wanting to date some boy but they knew the boy was a bad influence. The desire the girls had was a good and natural, but hopefully the teenager would trust their father enough to heed his direction. The father was acting out of a deep appreciation and care for his daughter's deeper desire and was trying to help her reach it.
So now, to not "be in want" you must trust that God does in fact love you and acknowledge that he knows your deepest desires... not just your desire to escape pain, and trust Him to take you to your deepest desires... even though you have to go through pain to get there.
When I type this... it sounds so simple... easy... it isn't. When the storm of life is upon you, you suffer. But we must learn to "dance in the rain" not just "wait for the storm to end." Imagine Paul in the Bible... what if he didn't dance in the rain? If he would have just waited for the storm to pass (pursuing an escape of pain) we would have no church... we would have a poorer Bible and a poorer understanding of what Christ did for us and how to follow him. In fact, all of Christianity is based on being able to grow past simply trying to escape pain, and learning to be joyful in Christ during the storms of life. If so, why should I expect God to deliver us from our pain when we still haven't truly learned how to "dance in the rain."
God, since we find ourselves in storm, please help us learn how to dance in the rain.
David
During a group Bible study, some men, who are a little further along in life than I, talked about when their teenage daughters were wanting to date some boy but they knew the boy was a bad influence. The desire the girls had was a good and natural, but hopefully the teenager would trust their father enough to heed his direction. The father was acting out of a deep appreciation and care for his daughter's deeper desire and was trying to help her reach it.
So now, to not "be in want" you must trust that God does in fact love you and acknowledge that he knows your deepest desires... not just your desire to escape pain, and trust Him to take you to your deepest desires... even though you have to go through pain to get there.
When I type this... it sounds so simple... easy... it isn't. When the storm of life is upon you, you suffer. But we must learn to "dance in the rain" not just "wait for the storm to end." Imagine Paul in the Bible... what if he didn't dance in the rain? If he would have just waited for the storm to pass (pursuing an escape of pain) we would have no church... we would have a poorer Bible and a poorer understanding of what Christ did for us and how to follow him. In fact, all of Christianity is based on being able to grow past simply trying to escape pain, and learning to be joyful in Christ during the storms of life. If so, why should I expect God to deliver us from our pain when we still haven't truly learned how to "dance in the rain."
God, since we find ourselves in storm, please help us learn how to dance in the rain.
David
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