Day 8:
May He give
you what your heart desires
and fulfill
your whole purpose.
Psalm 20: 4
Holman
Christian Standard Bible
If you look at this verse in other translations, you’ll
notice that it echoes part of our prayer scripture from yesterday. Therefore, I wanted to share this particular version
and focus on the underlined part.
So, what is your “whole purpose”? Is it the
multiple hats that we wear as parents,
spouses, caretakers, ministry workers at church, civic league members, small
business owners, and troupe leaders including the multiple hats that we
wear as educators? You and I know how
difficult it can be to juggle so many “jobs” without neglecting one or more. Is
this what God is promising to fulfill? Do we even have a “whole purpose” or a lot of
little ones?
A woman by the name of Jill Briscoe is quoted for
saying this when asked about a balanced life, “A balanced life is not ten boxes
of your life all equally full and functional.
It is prayerfully finding out which of those ten boxes God wants to be filled.
Then pushing those to the front and all others to the back and finally pouring
ourselves into those [chosen by God].”
This can be very difficult because it can mean
saying no to things that everyone else is doing. It could mean that your kids aren’t in sports
this year and you aren’t teaching Sunday school. It could mean that you’re supposed to sign up
to teach Sunday school or drop your graduate course. Who knows?
That’s between you and God.
But when we read the whole scripture, it can be
confusing. I mean, what if I desire to
go back to school? What if I desire to
drop teaching Sunday school? What if I
want to sign up my kids for T-ball? I
can just pray (according to the scripture) that God gives me the desires of my
heart…right?
Welllll, truthfully, that scripture doesn’t mean that
God gives us “what our heart desires”, but that He places desires
for His will in our heart. In doing so, He positions us to be in His will. What an awesome God we serve! This is why it is important to seek His face
BEFORE we say “yes” or “no” to anything.
Why is this important to know? If we take it upon ourselves to add or
subtract items to our lives because of our desires, it can make a mess of
things. We can get stressed out about something we really don’t have to even
worry about.
Sidebar: Do you realize if we asked God how He wants
our classroom decorated and arranged, He’ll give us the resources and the plan
for everything we need? We won’t feel
the need to compare it with anyone else and will know without a shadow of a
doubt that it will be perfect and ready when necessary. Just had to throw that in there.
The great
thing about God is that He will give you the strength and time to complete HIS
assignments and the opportunities for rest when you drop YOUR self-assigned
duties. This is because in truth, we
only have one hat to wear.
When we put this on, we are determined to listen
to the voice of our Father in heaven and be obedient to His will because we are
His children. He will show us how to shuffle those boxes as His desire becomes
our desire and His purpose becomes our purpose!
Today’s prayer:
Father God in heaven,
Thank You for knowing us by name. Thank You for having good thoughts and plans for us. Share with us, Father, Your desires for
our lives. No matter which box(es) we
have to move to the side or move up front, we trust You to help us move and fill
them. Since, every day has already been written about us in Your books, lead us on those paths and help us to faithfully attend
to our destiny for Your namesake. Father
God, when You call our names, may we ready to do Your will above our own with courage
and gratitude.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
