Submitting My Desires to Him

All the Psalms are wonderful because they are so honest and perfectly applicable to human experience in any day and age. But one of my favorites is Psalm 73 because it describes something that I encounter almost daily: unbelievers who “don’t need” God.

It’s the challenge of a lifetime to live “in the world, but not of it”. I’m still a regular girl who wants all the normal things: a husband, children, a home. But how do I act when I see others with the the very things I desire so much? Why does it seem like everyone else gets whatever they want, especially the people who lead lives contrary to God’s purpose? And why do I have to fight against my selfish thoughts all day everyday — and be happy about it?

They do everything that I daily fight against doing, and they get away with it. From barely noticeable lies and cheating, to the “larger” things like stealing and killing. Sure, I would love to devote my life to writing whatever I want, or traveling everywhere under the sun, or spending tons of money and time on makeup and fashion. But I don’t.

I can’t, not with the thought of Jesus on the cross. Since He has made me a new creation I know that I have a higher standard to live to (2 Corinthians 5:17). Knowing what I know, my conscience is sensitive to every single move and decision I make.

Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. ~Philippians 1:27

I have to constantly reprimand desires that don’t fit with God’s Word. From the things we put in and on our bodies, to the things we allow to seep into our minds, to the desires of our hearts, we can’t help it, but the world provides a gleaming array of temptations. When I can’t have something, I feel sorry for myself and whine at God like a toddler who’s been denied candy before dinner. Just like the speaker in Psalm 73:21-22, “My heart was grieved and my spirit was embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you”.

But I have something that these people don’t have – through my faith in Jesus, I know that I am clean before God. I have to bring myself again to a place of submission in my heart, so that I understand once again who God is: Good, Holy, Wise, Perfect Planner of My Life. If only I can get back to this knowledge as soon as possible I know that I will never spend too much time in this sinful attitude of envy.

Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ~1 Corinthians 6:11

Today, I pray in a special way for you who ache over things you can’t have because it’s simply not in God’s plan for you right now. I pray that you will seek peace by submitting your heart’s desires to Him. Come close to Him and he will comfort you.