What do you long for? Maybe you long to hold a loved one who has passed. Perhaps the restoration of a relationship. You might dream of a better financial situation. We desire many things, but they were not meant to mitigate our need to "rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances." Why do those three things remain necessary in our longings? The Scripture offers that answer, "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus," 1 Thessalonians5:16-18.
James 1:17 tells us, "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." When we are longing for what is legitimate, it's too easy to get caught up in the thing desired and not the God who is the fulfillment of all that is legitimately wished for. If we are being honest, our longings tend to be self-focused.
The gift or thing longed for is not supposed to be the focus. God loves His children and wants to give them good things. We miss it when the gift becomes a selfishly treasured possession. In Leviticus 26, God lays out many rewards and punishments for obedience or lack thereof. This passage helps us understand where the focus of his good gifts is supposed to be. He offers Israel a good land that overflows with milk and honey. This is his gift to them. He is not giving them the land to become their stumbling block. If He remains their goal, they will obey him and live in the gift of this land obediently and joy-filled, offering thanks and worship to Him.
If the land becomes their focus or the people in the land, they will forget Him and, in forgetting him find their longings for other than Him, becoming their reasons for disobedience. Their longings become a reason to resent God. That can happen to us too.
There is a thin line between longings that are not satisfied the way we think they should be from Worry.
What are we told about Worry in Scripture? Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Worry is based on what we think might happen, and we wait anxiously for it not to happen. Longings are based on what we wish were different or what we want to be.
Worry is resolved in Christ Jesus.
Longings are quieted in Christ Jesus as well.
Both can turn our eyes away from the Lord when we don't handle them Biblically. Israel was given all they could imagine. They were given so much to bring them to an understanding that God is faithful and good. He was going to take care of them. Yet, they longed to be like the Nations around them. They longed to worship the gods of the people who surrounded them. They longed to marry the women of the Gentile Nations. They did not find fulfillment for their longings or contentment in the God who gave them so much and would make His abode with them.
How does that help me? I simply long to talk to my son again. It's been a little over a year since he passed away. Is there anything wrong with that simple desire? First, it's normal to desperately miss those who deeply touched our lives after they passed. Longing to see them again is natural. The problem with the longing in this situation is that if not careful, I can begin to create resentment toward God. I could start to question his faithfulness, which would be to judge his character as evil.
How does it help to understand God's will for me as found in 1 Thessalonians 5, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances...?"
1) When I offer my longing to God through "rejoicing," I'm reminded of God's desire to reward my obedience. All I long for in wanting a conversation with my son is found in Jesus. I will not create an idol to worship. The laughter I miss in my son's absence is God's joy; the sadness I experience is God's to make beauty from the (ashes) sadness. When I handle this longing Biblically, it will be satisfied in Christ alone. That is where hope is found. To obey God's will is to rejoice.
2) When I offer my longing to God through "prayer," I pour out the petitions of my heart. It doesn't mean answers for my loss are given. It does mean God's grace pours out in my weakness. The promise of His comfort for the brokenhearted, which I am, becomes a tangible reality. As I obediently follow his will to pray continually, he uses my loss as a gain for those around me as it allows testimony of God's faithfulness. Therefore, I become salt and light through continued prayer.
In Leviticus 26, God offered Israel this wonderful gift of land and all the promises that would come from their obedience. It would not be a cakewalk. There would still be war, but the promise is they would win easily. If they kept their eyes on the faithfulness of God to remember all He is and does, their longings would wane or be satisfied in Him. Keeping their eyes on God's will would have put in perspective the longings they may have wanted to go after that God did not want for them. Their eyes on God would have dissipated Worry they may have experienced and not allowed an unthankful heart to set in.
Our longings can challenge us in the same way. Cravings can take our eyes off Jesus, "the author and perfecter of our faith..." Hebrews 12. Giving our longings to God keeps us walking in the will of God, which is to "be thankful in all circumstances..." This is where we go back to the beginning, "every good and perfect gift comes from God..." If you read Leviticus 26, you will go through the verses and see all the perfect gifts God promised Israel. They were promised "Rain in its season," not that they wouldn't have rain. It would be easy to long for rain out of season. "You will chase your enemies," not that they wouldn't have enemies. They might have longed for only friends. "You shall eat the old harvest and clear out the old because of the new." Not that they would not have to work in the sun for the harvest. Perhaps they would have longed for the harvest to pop up. See how easy it can be to have the wrong perspective or a longing out of place from what God says and offers. Longings can also make us take our eyes off what God has promised and be content with those promises alone. We can easily miss the more excellent gift, which is God himself. Israel may have missed that too. Thankfulness keeps our eyes on Jesus, not on what we might long for.
Longings given to God do not take away the reality of living in a broken world that groans, Romans 8:22. We need to wait for the good that will come for those who love him and are called according to His promise, Romans 8:28-29.
We can be "thankful in all circumstances" because Jesus has overcome the World and all its longings, pains, and hurts. When our longings are put in perspective of our Lord and Savior and offered to Him, he will give himself to us. He knows longings; even legitimate longings can so easily take our eyes off him. As Worry is remedied through prayer and thanksgiving, with rejoicing, longings are satisfied the same way. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all things, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Maybe we did not get 13 verses as in Leviticus 26 of what we will experience in our obedience, but isn't our joy complete enough? We share the same opportunity to have God make His home with us, John 15. His presence is full joy that is worth the trade of any longing. In Christ's presence, longings and legitimate desires go to be assuaged. While I miss my son, I have found what I miss about him in Jesus. Jesus alone is where my soul finds its satisfaction. That is where I am restored.
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