DAILY DEVOTIONAL – November 3, 2020
“Desiring God”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You alone satisfy the desires of our heart. In Your love and mercy Lord, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Yours is the Kingdom and the power and glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture: Psalm 145:13-19
[The Lord is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.]
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
Devotional: “Desiring God”
I don’t know about you, but there have been more times than I would care to admit that I have looked back on circumstances and events in my life and realized only after I had made a mess of things just how many times God was trying to give me His good gifts and show me what I truly need; but I was too convinced of what was best for me…too insistent on my way and my time and my wants to see God’s clear hand of providence in my life. The Lord has been so graciously patient with me, forgiving me of my stubbornness so that I would come to learn and trust what David says in our text for today from Psalm 145,
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
While you and I are blind to see what tomorrow will bring, God sees all things and knows all things and so He is the only One who can know what it is we need, when we need it and how we should receive it. Not only does God know what is best, but He wants to give us only the things that are best for us. He desires only to love us. As David continues to say in Psalm 145,
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
The truth is friends, if we really desire the best things in life, we need to trust in God’s generous heart, and in God’s timing and in God’s ways. Our most gracious God has already given us the most precious blessing of all in the blood of His only Son Christ who has provided for our salvation and redemption through His death and resurrection. It is because our Lord Jesus rose from the dead just as God promised us He would, that we should believe and know for certain that whatever God gives to us and whenever and however He chooses to give it to us, that it will lead to what is best for us and will give us what we ultimately need, even when it may not appear that God is giving us what we want.
The Lord never promised to grant us the desires of our heart, because our hearts are wrought with sin and selfishness. There are many times I can look back and thank God that He did not answer my prayers! God has promised, however, that when we look to Him and desire only His presence and purpose in our life…when God is what we want and who we want and all we want…our desires will be fulfilled without fail. As David says in verse 18 and 19 in Psalm 145:
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
What we need more than anything, and what we truly want deep down in the depths of our soul, is to know that we are forgiven and to know that we can look with hope and joy to that day when all of us are called into account before our Maker and Creator. What good is anything else, what blessing does anything else provide if it will all be eternally lost to sin and death?
The Good News of the Gospel my friends is that God has given us what we really want and what we really need…WHO we really need…He has given us His Son Jesus. He is who our hearts long for. He is what and who we want and need. As Scripture says in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Turn your eyes upon Jesus my friends, settle for nothing and no one less than Him, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
