What are the desires of your heart? You know, those things you dream about, visualize, or imagine. Is the list lengthy? Have those things changed over time? We all have those things we long for. There is nothing wrong with longing. Often the things we long for are good and decent. A good job. A nice house. A circle of good friends. Influence in the community. Enough money to pay the bills, with a little left over. A happy and healthy family. All good and decent desires.

But sometimes our desires are fueled by selfish motives. A better paying job. A bigger house. More money. More fame. More power. It is good and decent to want adequate resources to provide for ourselves and our family. Where we run into trouble is when we desire more more more, more than we need. 

As life and circumstances change, often so do the desires of our heart. What you or I desired two decades ago, two years ago, or even two days ago, may or may not be important to us today. Our earthly desires come and go. As priorities change, so do our desires. Constantly running after those changing desires is often fruitless, frustrating, and exhausting.

Today, I want to offer a different approach. I believe that our deepest longing, our deepest desire, is not wealth, power, comfort, but instead, to taste and see the glory of God in and through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, God’s own Son. David, the writer of Psalm 34, writes this – “Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” (v.8).

I believe that whether or not we acknowledge it, or even know it, we all have a God-shaped hole in our heart, a longing that can only be filled by God himself. The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it this way – ^“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (3:11).

The desires of our heart should first and foremost be a longing for intimacy with God. Our relationship with God is broken because of sin (Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 3:23) and can only be restored by committing our hearts to the lordship of Jesus Christ, who died and was resurrected from the dead in order to restore our right relationship with God (Colossians 1:19-20).

We are told that if we trust in the Lord (which includes submitting and obeying), He gives us the desires of our heart – “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:3-4).

Near the end of his life, Jesus said this to the disciples – “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:23-24).

In both those verses, it is not a carte blanche (from French, meaning “blank document”) invitation for us to ask for anything and everything that satisfies us. Instead, the promise is that our desires will be granted if they fit into God’s plans and purposes for our life. If our hearts are looking for God to fill us, we will never be disappointed. There is nothing wrong with asking God for material or physical blessing, so long as our desire comes from submitting and obeying His will rather than feeding our own selfish will.

What does your heart desire today?

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We all like those places of safety. As a child, the first place you probably wanted to run to when you were afraid was into your parent’s arms. Those big arms wrapped around you offered a safe haven in the face of fear. As a young boy, my friends and I built hideouts out of plywood, dirt and tree branches, and without the secret password nobody could enter our fort. We were safe from our parents, and most of all, also from the neighborhood girls.

Most of us today consider our house a safe place. The metal, wood, brick, concrete, stone, and asphalt offer us a measure of safety that isn’t found in hideouts made by boys. We can regulate the thermostat to a comfortable temperature while outdoors it could be 100 degrees or below freezing. We are told that the safest place during extreme weather events such as tornadoes and hurricanes is in the basement or an interior room without windows. Not only do our homes provide protection, most of us agree with Dorothy Gale, “There’s no place like home.”

But, while our homes do provide us with some measure of safety and security, we also know that they need regular upkeep and maintenance, along with the occasional major repair, in order to not start decaying, becoming unsafe. Even with proper upkeep, our homes at times let us down, they fail to be safe places. Have you ever seen a tree fall on a house? Did the roof or the tree win?     

On the contrary, in Jesus we have a safe place that will never let us down. The Bible calls Jesus our dwelling place, our safe shelter. Psalm 118:8 tells us, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans.” Psalm 91 is a beautiful testimony to the security we have when we trust in God. I encourage you to read this psalm in its entirety; today I offer you just four verses:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust’” (vv. 1-2).

In these two verses we see four different names for God – Elyon (Most High), El Shaddai (Almighty), YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah (LORD), and Elohim (my God, plural, as in Father, Son, Holy Spirit). These names reveal to us that –

(1) God is elevated above all else, He is the sovereign ruler,

(2) He is the all-powerful One, our sufficiency,

(3) YHWH is God’s personal name, the self-existent One, first revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3, and,

(4) He is the Creator, found in Genesis 1:1.

“If you say, ‘The LORD is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overcome you, no disaster will come near your tent” (vv.9-10).

To be clear, those verses do not say that bad things will never happen (read John 16:33), but rather, they do say that Jesus is our safe haven in both good times and in bad times.

And we find these hopeful words, Psalm 46:1-3 – “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”  

So, I ask you today, where are you putting your trust – in the decaying things of man or in the safe and secure permanent shelter of the Most High?

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Do you have a role model; someone you respect, someone you aspire to be like? Is this person someone you that you interact with on a regular basis? Or is it someone afar, someone who conducts their life in such a fashion as to be respected?

We all have role models, and role models all have one thing in common. At some point, those people will let us down, they will disappoint us. They will do or say something that causes you, and others, to pause and question whether that person is worthy to be emulated any longer. One of my role models was the director of the ministry school I attended. He was greatly respected by many people, including me. He regularly reminded us that we needed to live a life beyond reproach.  You can imagine my shock and sadness when I learned a few years later that he had engaged in an extramarital sexual relationship with a woman whom he was counseling.

While it is okay to have role models, we must never allow that adoration to turn in idolization. To idolize is to love or admire to excess, simply put, to worship. Having role models often helps us to aspire to be better versions of ourselves. But idolizing someone (or something) often causes us to lose sight of reality, and it the end, one result always happens, we get hurt and we hurt others. What is left is simply a pile of burned-out ashes.  

We not only worship people, we also worship things as well. What things in your life are central to your focus? We all worship someone or something. Where do you spend your time and money? That might be an indicator of what you worship. Just look around, do you see people worshipping money, sex, fame, more education, substances, family, just to name a few? And yes, even churches and church leaders get caught up in worshipping the wrong things from time to time.    

We are told in Scripture to worship God and God alone – above all else! The First Commandment (Exodus 20:3) tells us: “You should have no other gods before me.” And the second (v.4) gives us this: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness, of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth.” 

Why do we worship God? Is He needy, wanting to always be flattered? Does His ego need constant stroking? There are certain people who might fall into this category, but not so with God. We don’t even worship Him simply because He commands it. We worship God because He is exceedingly worthy of our worship. He is beautiful and generous and ever-loving like none other. Praise and worship is (should be) our natural and spontaneous response. Read 1 Chronicles 16:25-29, Psalm 145:1-3, Revelation 4:8-11.

Worshipping the One who created you, who made you in Him image, is part of your created purpose (Isaiah 43:7, 21). Gratitude and worship, regardless of your current circumstances, has a powerful transforming effect on your heart.

Near the end of the Bible, as John looked up into heaven, he recorded what we saw and heard – “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.” (To read this is context, see Revelation, all of chapter 5.)

So today I ask, who or what are you worshipping that will eventually leave you empty? Worshipping God will never leave you in a pile of burned-out ashes!

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When I was a child, the reality that life would be extremely hard wasn’t what I thought too much about. Instead, it was more like a hall of fame NFL career, a beautiful wife, well-behaved and successful kids. I guess, in the words of Meat Loaf, two out of three ain’t bad!

Your thoughts of what life as a grown up would look like, while maybe different than mine, were also probably of some idyllic version of happy, healthy, peaceful, charming, prosperity. There was no thought of serious health issues, unemployment, divorce, addiction, stress of dealing with aging parents, untimely deaths of loved ones, financial stresses, or any of the other challenges that we all have in life.

Maybe today, life looks and feels like nothing more than paint that seems to just be randomly brushed onto a canvas, chaotic and confusing, no rhyme or reason. You face some challenge, some struggle, some mess, that has you feeling disillusioned, discouraged, frustrated, maybe even hopeless. It could be ongoing challenges caused by a serious health issue. You have always found it easy to secure meaningful employment, but these days, as you look for a new job, doors just do not seem to open. Or possibly, as you look in the mirror, that young vibrant person who used to look back at you now looks older, grayer, heavier. You hope also wiser, but even that seems in question.

Your faith is strong. You know that God is in control and has a perfect plan and purpose for your life. But you do wonder what is taking this perfect plan so long to reveal itself. Your hands are raw from holding onto the rope so tightly, not wanting to let it slip through your fingers. Can I just say, maybe you need to let go and let God keep you safe and secure, rather than the rope.

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said this, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 we read these hopeful words – “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”  

Those words are hopeful because in your pain Jesus reveals Himself to you. Those words are hopeful because through your pain Jesus is refining you. Those words are hopeful because out of your pain Jesus can bring beauty and value.

The Bible also tells us that it is during trials that we grow and mature. Not an easy thing to digest, but it is true. In James 1:2-4 we read this – “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

A few verses later we see this – “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (v.12). The crown of life referred to in this passage is not just referencing to eternal life, but rather, also life here and now, enjoyed abundantly and in greater fullness.

We find these often-misinterpreted words from an imprisoned apostle Paul in Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” That verse does not mean that believers will never experience times of need. It does however mean God provides what we lack, and sometimes that is nothing more than the grace and strength to persevere (2 Corinthians 12:9).  

So, will you allow the troubles of life, the chaotic mess of life, to be guided and directed by the only One who can meet your every need?

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There is really no place on earth that I find more peace and serenity than at the ocean. Whether it be mid-summer, with the beach filled with people, or as it was this past weekend, empty and quiet. Whether it be “in season” with nonstop chatter of people enjoying themselves and the smell of suntan lotion wafting through the ocean breezes or the winter months, with the only noise being an occasional seagull overhead and the predominant smell being that of the sea breezes.

Not too long ago I saw this short poem written by Christy Ann Martine – “Dance with waves, move with the sea. Let the rhythm of the water set your soul free.”  

My wife and I find quietness and calmness and rest at the beach, regardless of the time of year. It is truly our happy place. This past weekend we went to Ocean City, Maryland. For mid-February, the weather was balmy – somewhere around 50 degrees. We walked on the beach, as close to the water as we could. We walked on the boardwalk. We sat and people watched. We enjoyed a dinner on the intercoastal waterway side of the island just as the sun set. The stresses of life seemed to disappear for those few days. My brain, still struggling after a stroke, found calmness from its chaos.

We also experience God’s presence at the beach. When we were planting a church in eastern North Carolina, we went to the beach almost daily, often simply to pray and commune with God. These days we do not live as close to the beach, so those times are not as frequent. As my wife and I quietly walked hand in hand on the cool sand this past weekend, we had a conversation with God, talking to him while also taking time to simply listen. In those moments, the beginning words of Psalm 37:7 come to mind – “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.” And staying in the Psalms – “In the multitude of my anxieties, Your comforts delight my soul” (94:19, NKJV).

In a world spinning faster and faster and out of control, it is more important than ever (and it was always important) to dial it down, unplug, and spend time in the presence of God. There is re-centering, re-focusing, re-aligning in His presence. There is also rejuvenating, recharging, repurposing.

Scripture is filled with verses telling us that Jesus knew the importance of getting away and spending time with His Father – very early in the morning and while it was still dark (Mark 1:35), lonely places (Luke 5:16), alone on a mountainside (Luke 6:12).

It does not matter where your solitary place is. What does matter is you have a solitary place where you can be with your Lord, away from the noise and distractions of the world. Spending time alone with God allows us to focus on Him and hear His Word. Abiding in Him helps us enjoy the intimacy to which He calls us to. We come to truly know God when we spend time with Him.

Where is your happy place? Where is that place of rest for you? Where is that place you go to simply enjoy the presence of the Lord?

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Have you ever felt alone and isolated? Invisible? Forgotten? Is it as if you are walking alone on a deserted beach. The vastness of the ocean and the width of the beach makes you feel very small, very insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The only living creatures in sight are the dolphins swimming close to the shoreline, and you are sure they don’t know you are nearby. Even the seagulls are nonexistent.

This past weekend, my wife and I walked hand in hand on a beach like I just described. For us, those moments are restful and peaceful. The “aloneness” is what we very much needed. But that is a different story for a different day (tomorrow).

Maybe you keep getting passed by for a promotion at work. You wonder if management even knows you work there.

You moved into a new neighborhood several months ago, but no neighbors, not even one, have stopped to say hello and welcome you.

That church you have been visiting, the one that advertises itself as a welcoming church, well, the only person to even make eye contact with you was the guy at the next urinal, as you both got rid of the coffees drunk during the service.

You feel abandoned by the family and friends, by the world, and by maybe even abandoned by El Shaddai, Almighty God himself. You wonder if anyone knows or cares that you exist. Today I want to share the story of a woman from the Old Testament who felt that way, at least until she had a very personal encounter with God.

The woman is Hagar. In Genesis Chapter 15 God promised Abram that He would bless Abram and make him into a great nation. In fact, Abram’s descendants would outnumber the stars. Fast forward ten years. Abram and his wife Sarai were quickly aging and still childless. So, like most of us would do, they began to have doubts, deciding to take matters into their own hands. (It is not until Genesis Chapter 17 that God changes their names to Abraham and Sarah.)

It was a custom during those times that if a man’s wife was barren, another woman could have a child in the wife’s place. In Chapter 16 Sarai tells Abram to sleep with Hagar, their Egyptian maidservant, and perhaps it would be through Hagar that God would fulfill his promise of making a great nation. Abram, probably after wiping a big grin off his face, slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant (vv.1-4).

As you might imagine, this created a complicated relationship between the three of them. Sarai began to mistreat Hagar, so the maidservant packed her bags and fled, returning through the desert to her homeland of Shur (vv.4-6). As a side note, in the book of Exodus, we are told that the Israelites traveled through this same wilderness on their way from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai (Exodus 15:22).  

In the ancient Middle East, women got their value through their husband. An unmarried pregnant maidservant would be viewed as having almost zero societal value and worth. In Genesis 16:7, as Hagar sits near a spring in the desert, likely feeling very scared and very alone, an angel of the Lord shows up and has a conversation with her (vv.7-12). It is in those moments that Hagar comes to the wonderful realization that she is not invisible or forgotten. Here is what we read – “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me’” (16:13).  

Hagar calls God “El Roi,” translated “the God who sees.” And then in v.14 we read, “Therefore the well (the spring at which Hagar sat) was called Beer-lahai-roi,” which literally means “the well of the Living One who see me.”

So, today, no matter how alone you feel, how small you feel, please hear this… God loves you, and not only that, He knows you, He cares for you, and He has plans for you. And just like Hagar, regardless of your current situation or circumstances, right here, right now, El Roi says to you, “I see you!”

Imagine the joy in knowing that God sees you! You are never out of His sight, even in your most lonely of moments, even on that deserted beach! Do you believe that today?

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