But You Were Not Willing
I want to start by sharing what a week it's been! I'm hard-pressed to find a spare moment, a deep breath, and a quiet solace; but I've been kept strengthened by God's truth, through His word and through godly counsel.
Yesterday in my Bible study group, we were going through Isaiah 61:1,3, which says,
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor."
We were discussing the fact that dissatisfaction (and satisfaction for that matter) is not circumstantial: dependent on possessions, status, or location. It doesn't matter where we're at, we can't seem to get settled in contentment. Advertisement agencies bank on this principle: that no matter where we are, we'd be happier if we had something else, something more.
The issue of dissatisfaction is in our understanding of satisfaction, and what we believe it means for us to be filled. We continue, I continue, to amass objects, people, relationships, hobbies, WHATEVER it takes in order to distract from the throbbing emptiness of silence. This is the issue, this is the problem: that every excess if rooted in emptiness! Everything we are consuming overabundantly is founded upon the hope that it will fill one of our needs, one of our empty places.
Anything other than God will not cover the crevices of our desire. We may be able to fill our satisfaction vase up to peek performance, maybe even spilling over. However, anyone who takes a good, long look will be able to see the spaces left between the fillers. That is all that they are: fillers. God, however, is living water. His spirit is able to invade every corner, every crevice, and every place of emptiness and spring up in it a wellspring of life.
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." (Jer. 2:13)
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in hin a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14)
I will be like the Samaritan woman, "leaving her water jar (John 4:28)" and letting the living water of Jesus quench my thirst.
He gives without limit, so come and drink.
Yesterday in my Bible study group, we were going through Isaiah 61:1,3, which says,
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor."
We were discussing the fact that dissatisfaction (and satisfaction for that matter) is not circumstantial: dependent on possessions, status, or location. It doesn't matter where we're at, we can't seem to get settled in contentment. Advertisement agencies bank on this principle: that no matter where we are, we'd be happier if we had something else, something more.
The issue of dissatisfaction is in our understanding of satisfaction, and what we believe it means for us to be filled. We continue, I continue, to amass objects, people, relationships, hobbies, WHATEVER it takes in order to distract from the throbbing emptiness of silence. This is the issue, this is the problem: that every excess if rooted in emptiness! Everything we are consuming overabundantly is founded upon the hope that it will fill one of our needs, one of our empty places.
Anything other than God will not cover the crevices of our desire. We may be able to fill our satisfaction vase up to peek performance, maybe even spilling over. However, anyone who takes a good, long look will be able to see the spaces left between the fillers. That is all that they are: fillers. God, however, is living water. His spirit is able to invade every corner, every crevice, and every place of emptiness and spring up in it a wellspring of life.
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." (Jer. 2:13)
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in hin a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14)
I will be like the Samaritan woman, "leaving her water jar (John 4:28)" and letting the living water of Jesus quench my thirst.
He gives without limit, so come and drink.
very nice. so true. now to do it...
ReplyDeleteYes, to make it somehow more concrete is harder. Yet if we don't, how will we recognize when we're doing it? Also, this is my 40th post. :)
ReplyDelete