“All my longings lie open before You, Lord, my sighing is not
hidden from You.” (Psalm 38:9 NIV)
God can handle our longings. He is not afraid of human desire. In fact, laying our longing before Him might be the very key to containment and fulfillment.
What do I mean by that? Desire hidden grows, often twisting itself into sinful action and ultimately addiction. That’s why affairs are so initially thrilling: the secretiveness only adds to the excitement. What happens when we take desire out of the shadows and expose it to the light of Christ? We discover the true nature of those longings; designed to draw us toward wholeness and holiness, not away from it. If we’ll share the inclinations of our heart with our Savior, He’ll help us dig out the root; which isn’t sinful at all.
What if, we acknowledged desire as divine design instead of misappropriated musings? What if we believed the longings of our heart were on purpose indicators of a heavenly agenda? If we could bring ourselves to lay these desires before the Lord, how might He fulfill them? How might they fit into the life He has custom fit for us?
Have you ever worn tailor-made clothes? My suit for ordination was store-bought, ready-made off the rack at Banana Republic. But it didn’t fit quite right; the hem was a little high and the sleeves were a little long. A few minutes with a skilled tailor and a handful of pins made all the difference in the world. On ordination day, it was if my suit was made for me.
Maybe our desires, at their root are like that suit; a starting point for a tailor-made life. Too often, we just accept the lot given and try to stuff our desires down deep, where they can do the most harm. What if we took our desires to the tailor instead, and He adjusted our life to include our desires, to make room for and even allow opportunity it delight in them? They would diffused of what I call ‘Downstairs’ opportunity and integrated into our divine purpose. We might wind up living on task and with joy.
“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 NIV)
Lord, forgive us for hiding our desires from You. It’s simply what we do when we are afraid, when we don’t understand. Help us uncover the root of our desires ad discover how they fit into Kingdom thinking and agenda. Let us see You delight in exactly who You’ve made us to be. Today we lay our desires before You, trusting that You are already aware and have a strategy in hand for incorporating the inclinations of our heart. May we trust You enough to share these matters with You. Amen.