Rescuing the human heart is the hardest mission in the world.
The dilemma of the Story is this: we don’t know if we want to be rescued. We are so enamored with our small stories and our false gods, we are so bound up in our addictions and our self-centeredness and take-it-for-granted unbelief that we don’t even know how to cry out for help. And the Evil One has no intention of letting his captives walk away scot-free. He seduces us, deceives us, assaults us—whatever it takes to keep us in darkness.
Their hearts are always going astray. (Hebrews 3:10)
God is filled with the jealousy of a wounded lover. He has been betrayed time and again.
The challenge God faces is rescuing a people who have no idea how captive they are; no real idea how desperate they are. We know we long for Eden, but we hesitate to give ourselves back to God in abandoned trust. We are captivated by the lies of our Enemy.
Excerpt from the book Epic Pg 62, by John Eldridge
When I read the above I am reminded of the story about a man at the pool of Bethesda who had been crippled for 38 years. When asked by Jesus if he wanted to get well his reply was that when the waters are moving to indicate that the healing properties were present that others got in ahead of him, indicating that this was the reason he had not been healed. Jesus always deals with our heart because that is where the trouble lies, not in outward circumstances. They are just excuses so we can justify our condition because at the time it seems less painful than facing the truth which is the only way to be healed. I admit facing the truth isn't painless, but embracing a lie to avoid it is far more painful and costly in the long run.
I found myself repenting of feeling disappointed in the way things had gone since moving into our house. I had to ask myself why. The word tells me that those who hope in God will not be disappointed, yet I was. The truth was I placed expectations on an experience to live up to some ideal I had that had nothing to do with God, and yet felt justified to have the expectation because I knew us getting the house was of God, sounds confusing but it really isn’t. My deepest longing and need is to be one with God, intimately acquainted and involved daily in relationship with Him. But how often I too find my heart is led astray and I buy into the lie of the enemy that something else can satisfy me because it’s easier to believe the lie than to have to admit the truth and that is that I’m wrong, plain and simple. Can you relate?
It doesn’t mean I need to berate myself, but it does mean that I have to admit I was looking outside of God to fill something inside of me that I know only He can fill. For me sometimes that is in accomplishing a task, sometimes its in acquiring a particular thing, or sometimes it might be in the way I expect to spend my time, most of which are a means to attain a feeling or an experience, which is what we are really seeking. Whatever it is, when that is not met then there is disappointment. I have learned that any time I feel disappointed, I need to look inside myself because it is a sign I have misplaced expectations, no matter how justified they might be, only God will not disappoint. Our nature is to take the easier path. It’s easier to buy an outfit or something for our house to satisfy, or for some as was the case with me at one time, to take drugs than to walk or I should say wade through the emotional debris life has a way of bringing to the shore of our hearts.
Wouldn’t you agree that the financial and moral condition of our society is proof of the above? Honestly do we really“need” the majority of stuff we spend our money on, or need to “do” all the things we spend our time doing. Deep inside we all know it never works, and the longer we put off getting to the root of behavior that often times is bankrupting our lives financially and or emotionally, the more debris we must wade through.
I think sometimes we have a hard time imagining that God isn’t put off by us, because at our core we are put off by ourselves. We don’t like how we are, yet because of our unbelief in His unconditional love we shy away from taking the risk of being vulnerable with God who is truly the only hope and help we have.
I must admit at times it seems that this relationship with Him is well, just too easy. It seems nothing in life is easy, so how can it be so easy with Him? But it is. It is because Jesus made it easy. I was thinking about the things that make me feel frustrated or disappointed and I must admit that in every instance at the very root of it was a misplaced desire or expectation that something was going to satisfy me. Anytime I look to something outside of the Lord to fulfill me I am destined for an emotional dive, you can count on it. We are desperate for oneness with Him, so desperate we’ll do anything to satisfy that desire except the one thing we must do and that is to be honest with Him. He can handle our honesty, what He can’t do anything with, is our deceiving ourselves. We have to want truth no matter what. He is the Truth and we can only find Him as we walk in truth.
What about you, what is it that has caused you to feel disappointed? Is it a relationship? Or maybe a financial situation, or even as broad as how your life in general hasn't gone the way you had planned? I don't think most peoples does. Whatever it is, you will find if you look deep enough, at the root is a lie. Only God can satisfy the longing of our hearts and He alone can be trusted with them.
Poem: Worthless Things
.png)
