Saturday, June 23, 2012

Saturday, June 23rd

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is 1 Kings 12-14
Today's scripture focus is Ecclesiastes 11:7-10

7 Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
8 However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all.  But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many.  Everything to come is meaningless.
9 Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things
God will bring you to judgment.  

10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.

Mark Driscoll had a fabulous sermon on this passage called Threading the Needle.


“Light is sweet and it pleases the eye to see the Sun. However many years the man may live, let him enjoy them all.”
What he’s saying is this — particularly to those of you that are young. You don’t know how many years you have. You can’t decide whether or not you will be long or short on the Earth, because ultimately your days are in the hand of God. What you do have jurisdiction over however, is the quality of those days. You’re days may be short, but they can full. You’re days may be many and they can be full. But ultimately God knows the number of your days, but you have the possibility of enjoying every one of those days that God would give you.


But let him remember the days of darkness
You’re gonna get old.


“For there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless. Be happy young man while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.” 
This is his admonition to those of you that are young...The purpose of your life, according to this, is enjoyment. Enjoy your life with God. Enjoy your days with God. Enjoy opportunities in every day of life that God would give you. Solomon learned this from his father, David, who also wrote the book of Psalms, and in Psalms Chapter 16, Verse 11, he tells us that, “Joy comes from the right hand of God.” That’s where joy comes from. As well, he learned but ignored in Psalm chapter 37, Verse 4 from his father that we should, “Delight ourselves in the Lord and that he will give us the desires of our heart.” That’s the goal of our life. Now some of you read that and you say, “Okay that means, if I love God, I get everything I want. I’ll be attractive and tall. I’ll have a new car. I’ll be smart. Handsome. Rich.” No, that’s not what it means.

What it means is that as you delight in God, as you enjoy God, as you walk closely with God through Jesus Christ, God changes your desires. Often times the reason that we lack joy is because we’re pursuing the wrong things, because we have the wrong desires, because we’ve been delighting in the wrong things. Ultimately, you become like that which you worship. Whatever you enjoy most is going to be that which causes your desires to exist. If you worship sexuality, you will become perverted. Your desires will be crooked. If you worship money, you will be greedy — an idolatress — and your desires will be pursuing of things rather than God. “Delight yourself in the Lord,” he says, “And God will give you the desires of your heart.”...As you and I learn to delight in God, to be satisfied with God, to enjoy God, God gives us desires, passions, profound convictions, and he compels us to live our lives freely and passionately in pursuit of those things....Our problem is that we spend a lot of our days pursuing things without previously drawing near to God to make sure that those desires are his desires for us, and for many of you, you struggle with this question. “Well, I’m thinking about this job, or this relationship. I’m thinking about this ministry. I’m thinking about this opportunity, and I don’t know if this is my will or God’s will.” That’s the wrong question. If you love God, enjoy God, walk with God, delight in God, God will take his will, he will place that in your heart so that your will and God’s will are indeed the exact same thing. So there is no more God’s will and my will and I’m torn between doing what I want to do and doing what God wants me to do.

If you’re a person who struggles with obedience to God, if you are person who struggles with trusting that what God has for you is indeed good, your problem is not with God’s will, it truly is with God. If you knew God, if you enjoyed God, if you knew what God intended and desired and his love for you, then you would passionately pursue exactly what he would intend for you to pursue....

If you’re not sure, when you go to make a major life decision, “Who should I marry? Where should I go to school? Where should I work? What church should I attend? What ministry should I involve myself in?” Don’t try and find God’s will. Don’t. Try and find God. If you find God, he will give you a desire, and then you can pursue it freely and passionately knowing that you’re in his will because his will is now your will, and the two of you are like-minded and in accord.



Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see
If you’re delighting in God, then the things that you see won’t all entice you, only those things that are pleasing the Lord.



but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.  
Passion that’s tethered to wisdom leads to the kind of life that is enjoyable and pleases God....Read your Bible, pray, talk to the Lord. Listen to the Lord. Learn from the Lord. Enjoy the Lord, and as you do, you will find that what births in you is passion, creativity, vision, joy and excitement and a fear of God that keeps you from being an idiot. And just running off and sinning like crazy, and ruining the few days that God would give you. So here’s what we need to do: enjoy God.


So then, banish anxiety from your heart
One of the most profound and pronounced problems with young people today is just that: depression and anxiety....Now I’m not discounting that for some people there is a legitimate medical cause for certain problems, like depression....If you don’t enjoy God, if you don’t see life as a gift from God, if you don’t know that your desires are from God, if you don’t pursue your life with simultaneous passion and fear of God, what you end up being is anxious, because you’re not sure if what you’re doing is correct or right, or depressed – worried that the life that you’re leading is fruitless and worthless. Depression is not always a medical or psychological issue. Sometimes it is an intensely spiritual issue. Young people need to learn to banish anxiety from their heart. Enjoy God. Fear God. Walk with God. Draw near to God, so that their heart is renewed and redeemed, and so that their desires are renewed and redeemed. I would submit this to you: if you struggle with anxiety, if you suffer with depressions, make sure that first things are first, and that you’re enjoying God.  That the desires that you are pursuing are from God. That you are doing so with a reverence of God, and with a passion that is Christ-like, otherwise you’ll be sad all the time.


and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.
meaning they fade quickly. He’s just talked about emotional health: anxiety and heart. Now he’s talking about physical health. Some of you who are young are very active and you don’t take good care of your body...Be careful with your health. You don’t wanna be this falling apart, decrepit, limping, old person. Be careful of your emotional health. Be careful for your physical heath: diet, exercise, nutrition. Buckle up. Wear a helmet.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Ecclesiastes 12:1-5
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: 2 Chronicles 10-12

1 comment:

Miriam said...

Excellent. Love this post, particularly the part about God changing our desires as we learn to delight in Him. So true.