dealing with the desires that battle within
Many times our desires are good and God-given, but the problems arise in how we go about getting those desires met. As I’ve heard said, “Sin is an attempt at meeting a need in an unhealthy way.”
Or as James, brother of Jesus says, “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight" (James 4:2b).
We’ll do all of that and more to try and get what we desire. We’ll manipulate, yell, demean, withhold, avoid, and ignore.
James goes on to tell us why this never works. This has to be one of the most sobering verses in the Bible.
“You do not have because you do not ask God” (4:2c).
Now in the split second it took to read that, we may have argued, “No, I have asked God. He’s just never come through.” Let’s keep reading...
Verse 3, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Re-read that...YOUR PLEASURES. When it comes to our desires, we need to remember that there’s someone else’s desires that are more important than our own. That someone is our Heavenly Father.
Verse 5, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?”
God has desires for us and those around us. It’s not just about our desires and pleasures or their desires and pleasure. There’s Someone else’s desires at work. So James advises,
Verse 7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God.”
This word for submit means “to subject, to bring under control.”
That is, put yourself under the Father’s authority. Let Him direct. Many of us don’t want to do this, because we’re fearful we might not get what we desire. Instead, we prefer to kill and covet because that’s something we can do. It gives us a sense of control, even if it’s miserable.
Desires can be good and God-given or misdirected and sinful. Let’s put an end to the complicated battle of desire by simplifying. Let’s...
Ask God to fulfill our desires, BUT submit to His way in everything.