Delays, Delays, Delays!

We have been talking about David who had a heart after God's own heart.  David's desires matched God's desires, and God favored him.  God chose him as King, because he looked upon his heart and saw that he had the  like and desires and values of God.  David didn't just wake up one day and have a heart that was fashioned out like God's heart.  He wasn't born with a heart after God's own heart either.  David said in the book of Psalms: 

Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Psalms 119:11

If  you long for a heart after God's own heart, you will have to hide God's Word in  your heart.  That means to do more than just read it.  To hide it in your  heart means to bury it there like a treasure, something precious, something you keep, something you meditate on often.

What are the desires of God's heart?

Hosea 6:6  6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 

 

Psalms 51: 5-7  5Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow

God desires mercy and knowledge, not sacrifice and offerings.  God desires us to live truthfully in our hidden parts, those times when we are all alone, we should be living the truth and not a lie. 

Tonight we will be talking about God's desire for man to give thanks in all things.

1 Thess. 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

What does God desire?  He desires for us to give thanks in all things.  When bad things happen and we are uncomfortable or suffering we should continue to believe that God is working out all things for our good.  Why is it so hard for us to believe that?  Why is it so hard for us to understand that God is moving on our behalf even when we cannot see it.

We have a daughter that is mentally handicapped and autistic.  Sometimes when she wants to go to McDonald's she pulls my mouth to her ear.  She is waiting for me to give her a promise, because she is non-verbal, so, she wants me to guess what she is wanting.  When I say, "You want to go to McDonald's, she flaps her hands and pulls away to indicate that I had guessed right."   She won't leave my side until I promise her we will go to McDonald's.  Once I promise her, she is contented.   If I have to take a detour to an ATM machine, she acts like her life is over.  She is SO CERTAIN that we are going completely the wrong way.  She is so upset that we are not going to McDonalds.  Well, I know that I have to go the opposite way first to withdraw some money, but, she has NO FAITH that this delay is for her best interest.  Luckily for my daughter, now McDonalds takes debit cards!  But the delays in our lives, sometimes they are necessary.

Moses had a delay,  Joseph had a delay, Abraham had a delay, The disciples had a delay when they were told to go to the upper room and wait upon God's promise.  After all, they had just witnessed Jesus BACK from the grave!  Who could sit still on that kind of news and sit in an upper room and pray?  Delays. Delays. Delays!  God has a reason for your delay.  Give him thanks in all things.  You know that he is working for your good!