In spite of all the joy and festivities, the start of December has some of us feeling dry and parched...longing for new growth. Longing to rest. Longing to set aside running on empty.
And just as I roll up my sleeves to get busy with figuring out how to get myself out of that slump, I'm compelled to sit back down consider again: Is it muscle and might, or truth and transformation, that will get me through this season?
“Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
I'm reminded that God made us to be hungry that we might not be easily satisfied. He gives us plenty, but allows our hearts to know empty so that we would know the miracle of being filled...by Jesus. He allows me to experience the disappointment of self-sufficiency and self-worship that I might be floored by his amazing grace.
And, thus the warning to not chase after other gods...
Because sometimes abundance and ease inoculate us from the sanctifying process of surrender and dependence.
It's not hard to observe the reality:
We can't treasure our own kingdom and long to see His will be done.
We can't proclaim ourselves while crying out to Him who is worthy.
We can't hold on to pride and yet desire to be subject to the word of God. Some things just don't happen simultaneously.
"And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
So may it be that we would give thanks for our need today...that we would begin any effort to feel satisfied with first being mesmerized by the person of Christ. Lord, lead us to the Cross, where you prove your love and secure our identity! Remind us that your glory is our inheritance and that you provide in every season because you are our sustenance:
“ I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Because of grace,
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