This is one of my favorite passages of scripture. What I’ve often noticed, however, is that we focus on receiving the desires of our heart. But if we look closely at this passage we have to realize that delighting ourselves in the Lord comes first, centering in Him, delighting in Him as the source and the fulfillment of our desires, and then, also, receiving from Him after your life is centered on Him.
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The world these days is full of bad news, with tensions growing in the Middle East, economies on the brink of collapse, and nature constantly adding to the chaos with one disaster after another. It’s a time of trouble all right, and for us believers it may sometimes be hard to believe â but it never is as bad as it seems. Let me illustrate with a joke I like to share with my messages.
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Missionaries Dick and Margaret Hillis found themselves caught in China during the Japanese invasion. The couple lived with their two children in the inland town of Shenkiu. The village was tense with fear, for every day brought terrifying reports of the Japanese advance. At the worst possible time, Dick developed appendicitis, and he knew his life depended on making the long journey to the hospital. On January 15, 1941, with deep foreboding, Margaret watched him leave.
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A reader asked a pointed question, “How do we claim the promises of God?” Sometimes the most difficult questions are best answered by men of faith, in this case, by a man who made a lifestyle of claiming the promises of God. I learned the answer to this question early in my walk when I read the autobiography of George Mueller.
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F.B. Meyer once said, âThe education of our faith is incomplete [till] we learn that Godâs providence works through lossâŚthat thereâs a ministry to us through the failure and fading of things. The dwindling brook where Elijah sat is a picture of our lives.
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Historian Shelby Foote tells of a soldier who was wounded at the battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War and was ordered to go to the rear. The fighting was fierce and within minutes he returned to his commanding officer. “Captain, give me a gun!” he shouted. “This fight ain’t got any rear!”
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A father asked his son to carry a letter from their camp to the village. He pointed out a trail over which the lad had never gone before. âAll right Dad, but I donât see how that path will ever reach the town,â said the boy. âWell son, I’ll tell you how. Do you see that big tree down the path?â asked the father. âOh, yes, I see that far.â âWell, when you get there by the tree, youâll see the trail a little farther ahead — and farther down you’ll see another big tree — and when you reach that one you’ll be closer and so on until you get within sight of the houses of the village.â
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