Desiring God

 

(The quotation in the picture is from "The Works of Hannah More: Essays," from the chapter "Errors in Prayer" on page 324)

Many, many years ago, I came across this observation from St. Augustine in one of his sermons on the Psalms. He was developing some thoughts regarding Psalm 77:1, where the sacred songwriter states, “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.” Augustine then says that “many men cry unto the Lord for the sake of getting riches and avoiding losses, for the safety of their friends, for the security of their house, for temporal felicity, for secular dignity, lastly, even for mere soundness of body, which is the inheritance of the poor man. For such and such like things many men do cry unto the Lord; scarce one for the sake of the Lord Himself. For an easy thing it is for a man to desire anything of the Lord, and not to desire the Lord Himself; as if forsooth that which He gives could be sweeter than Himself that gives.” It is an easy thing to desire the goods of God, but to not desire the God of those goods! 

Paul David Tripp points out something similar in his fine book, “War of Words.” As he is ponders what the people of John 6:30 were after when they demanded of Jesus a miracle. Tripp answers with, “Their pursuit of Christ was born out of love for self and the hope that Christ would be the one who would meet their felt needs.” Then Tripp sidles up close to each of us and sharply points out that what “moves and motivates everthying we do is not submission to God’s will and a burning desire for his glory, but our own set of personal desires and dreams. We are excited about the King because we see him as the most efficient delivery system for those dreams” (pg. 89). Isn’t that the same point Augustine made over 1,500 years earlier? It’s easy for us to desire the goods God gives, but not to desire the God of the goods. It’s just too easy to make our whole religious exercise a longing for the luxuries we want from the Lord, and to not want the Lord for his own sake. 

Therefore, over the next seven days, as you’re praying, ask yourself one question: “If God doesn’t give me what I want, when I want it, and how I want it, but gives me himself more fully, will I be satisfied?” 

If you find you’re more excited about the King because you see him as the most efficient delivery system for your dreams, then:

1. Step back and acknowledge to God your greedy outlook;
2. Cry out for mercy and forgiveness for such selfishness;
3. Ask him for a change of heart, a conversion of your desire and delight;
4. Tell him you want him more fully, that you want him better; “so may my heart be full of thee…Give me thyself without measure, as an unimpaired fountain, as inexhaustible riches” (“The Valley of Vision,” pg. 50);
5. Then bring your requests to him;
6. And, finally, remind yourself before God that it’s too easy to want the goods of God instead of the God of the goods. 

 

Pastor Mike