Skip to main content

IBS 73 - Ecclesiastes 6:2

Ecclesiastes 6:2
“God gives some people wealth, possessions, and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.”

It’s so easy to be jealous of people of the world. To look at their wealth, their possessions, and see that they have all their hearts desires. It’s so easy for me to look at that and then get frustrated because I don’t have any of that. Sometimes I’ll wonder why God gave them their desires and not give me my desires. Whenever I think that way, I’m not thinking rationally. The worldly people, who have all their desires, can’t truly enjoy their wealth. God hasn’t given them the ability too. That’s why they keep searching for more wealth, more lovers, and that’s when they get into bad things like drugs and alcohol. Their ending is not an ending I’d ever want.  
As I’ve grown this year, I’ve realized that I don’t want what my flesh wants. If I receive the things my flesh wants then my ending will be the ending that I don’t want to have. As I’ve grown, my desires have changed drastically. Now, my desire is for Christ. I want to be in His presence. I want to be like Him. 
In Psalm 73 it talks about how the writer almost slipped. He envied the arrogant and saw the prosperity of the wicked. He says that when his heart was grieved and his spirit embittered, he was senseless and ignorant; he was a brute beast before God. But then he goes on to say that yet, God is with him. Holding him by the right hand, guiding him. He says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and heart may fail, but God is my strength of my heart and my portions forever…But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge.” 
I no longer desire the world, but my God. My refuge, my strength, my rock, my creator. He created me to be near Him, and when I stray from Him I feel lost and confused, uncertain and searching for things that don’t matter. But being near God, my soul is at peace, I have confidence in my Savior, I feel safe and unafraid. I don’t envy the wicked because they don’t have an eternal peace and joy, they aren’t confident in knowing that they’ll be spending eternity with the Almighty. 

My soul longs and desires to be near the Lord. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IBS 41 - Philippians 3:8

Philippians 3:8 “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” Losing all things to gain Christ, considering them garbage. That’s intense. That’s hard to do. It takes a lot of faith and trust to get to that point. It’s one step at a time. Growing up, I’d here this verse. “You have to get rid of everything to have Christ.” That scared me, I didn’t want to get rid of my baby dolls and nail polish. As I got older, I learned the deeper truth to this verse. It’s not just giving up items, it’s giving up bad habits, your wants, your rights. It’s giving it all to God to know Him better.  When God told me to do Potter’s Field, I said no. I didn’t want to give anything up. I wanted to keep control, doing what I wanted to do, following my own dreams, holding on to earthly possessions. As God worked on my heart, it got harder to say no....

IBS 70 - PSALM 51:8

Psalm 51:8 “Let me hear joy and gladness: let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” For a couple of years, people have talked to me about getting broken by God. About what it means for God to crush me. They’ve shared their stories of God breaking them and it always impacted me. Especially because they were so joyful, bringing praise to God so easily. I craved to have that type of joy and to be able to praise God the way they did. But I never wanted to go through the process of being broken. It’s a painful process that I didn’t want to have to endure. I said I wanted God to change me, but I wasn’t completely willing to change and to let Him break me. I didn’t want to surrender, and it became hard for me to praise God. I realized that my relationship with Christ wasn’t what it needed to be, but I wasn’t willing to let God do His work in me. My spirit craved to be broken and to draw near to God, but my flesh refused and fought God so hard.  Through the years, God put people ...

IBS 77 - Luke 1:37-38

Luke 1:37-38 “‘For no word from God will ever fail’. ‘I am the Lord’s servant’, Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’” Trust trust trust. God is faithful and true. He keeps his promises. He will not fail. I never have to doubt or wonder if he will come through. He is constantly showing throughout the Bible how he never fails. Daniel and the Lion’s Den. David and Goliath. God giving Noah the rainbow after the great flood. And there are many many more. God is also constantly showing me his faithfulness in my life. Providing the funds for Ignite, providing food and water, a place to rest, protection, and many many more things. Every day there is always something new that God shows me of how his word never fails. He will guide me and provide my essential needs wherever he will lead me.  Mary knew that God’s word never fails. That’s one of the reasons why God chose her to be the mother of Jesus. The angel Gabriel even greets her by saying, “Greetings, you who are...