Withholding Desires

Again, I'm am going to quote another Elisabeth Elliot book. I'm telling you, I'm hooked. I'm going to own and read every one of her books. I'm confident of that...potentially by the end of this year. I just started "Keeping a Quiet Heart." I feel like I am continually repeating myself, but it's amazing. Each one of her books have awakened a different part of my heart. This is just a little bit of what I read this morning:

"Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for. 'Running aground,' then, is not the end of the world. But it helps to make the world a bit less appealing. It may even be God's answer to 'lead us not into temptation' -- the temptation complacently to settle for visible things."

This really put a lot in perspective for me. I keep thinking the more that I align my heart with God's, then our desires will align as well. But I often forget that I am still human. I still have selfish motives and wants. Even if my desires aren't selfish, maybe it is better not to ever experience them. Elisabeth makes such a great point here. We must remember we are but "aliens" here. Why are we expecting this world to satisfy us? It ultimately just won't happen. That's God's plan. He wants us to desire more...eternity with Him. There are many things in my life right now that I am desiring. They are not all selfish, but again, I am human and a few may be.

Here's a metaphor I think of it as: 

I want a cookie. A huge, freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookie. I want it bad. There's nothing wrong with that right? Except for maybe it's 6pm and I'll spoil my dinner if I have it. If I eat that cookie, I'm not going to want the delicious meal that my mom spent time preparing. I had to wait until after dinner if I wanted it. Ugh. But I want it NOW. Just a few bites. Nope. If I got it now, I wouldn't appreciate the dinner awaiting me. But if I were to wait, I would be able to fully enjoy the meal my mom made, and then I would have the option of deciding if I still wanted that cookie.

I don't know how much that makes sense by reading it, but in my head it does. If God were to give us all the desires of our hearts, then what is there to look forward to? Be patient. 

God isn't depriving us, He's preparing us.

I challenge you because God has challenged me. What are those desires that you think God are withholding from you? Picture your life with them and then ask yourself, "would I crave God the same/more/less?" He wants us to be joyful. But He also wants us to be hopeful and eagerly awaiting Him.