During my marriage to Tommy, and prior to our “pause”, I prayed for his heart to soften and for his attitude towards me to become more like a representation of Christ’s love for the church. What I neglected to do was pray for myself and recognize my own sinful behavior. I spent so much time focusing on the speck in his eye that I refused to acknowledge the log in my own. (Luke 6:42)
Over time, when I hadn’t seen adequate change, I allowed my desire for a Godly husband to become an idol causing resentment and bitterness to take over my heart. While my desire was not sinful, the motivation for wanting this change on my terms eventually led to a hardened heart.
After pleading with God for years over the state of my marriage, He began the work of answering my prayers, but by that time I had thrown in the towel. I had given up on God and no longer had faith in God’s power to transform. My petitions had been heard all along and the Holy Spirit was transforming my husband right before my eyes, but I chose to ignore it because God’s timeline did not match my own.
Psalm 37:4 reads, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Many believe this means Christ will “grant our wishes”. This perspective places the emphasis on the second part of the verse instead of focussing our attention on the first half. In my situation, for example, I was not delighting myself in the Lord. My desires were no longer God’s desires, but born out of the flesh which catered to my own selfishness. God wants our idolatrous desires to be replaced with righteous ones.
It is not necessarily wrong to want a more Godly husband or wife. However, this desire can easily become an idol when we displace Jesus Christ as the object of our deepest yearning and affection. When things do not turn out like we want them to, frustration can lead to desperation. And, desperation often leads to sin. Our full devotion should be given to Christ because only He can bring the joy and fulfillment our hearts long for.
Dear friend, I want to challenge you this week to delight yourself in the Lord. Trust in His perfect timing, because He will make it worth the wait. Here are a few practical ways to do so.
- Seek to know God’s Word and obey it.
(Matthew 6:33, Jeremiah 29:13, Psalm 119:2, 1 John 5:3) - Set your heart on God, finding fulfillment and joy in Him.
(John 15:9-11, Matthew 22:37) - Learn to be content with what you have or do not have.
(Philippians 4:11b-13) - Give thanks regardless of your circumstances.
(1 Thessalonians 5:18)
In Christ,
Amy Larson
I remember just recently praying that the Lord would help me wait. I hate to wait. Yet it seems that the Lord does not boo anything in a hurry
The wait is the hardest part, but during this time, we show our true faith in how we respond to God. It may be that we aren’t quite ready to receive His blessings. If God supplied us with a great harvest, yet our storehouses were not in order to receive the bounty, the harvest would go to waste. We have to be fully equipped to receive His blessings or those blessings can become burdens. We will be praying alongside you, for patience and contentment in His perfect timing.