Day 26: What Do You Really Want?
Psalms 139:16
Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.
We need some perspective on our lives. We need to have a good grasp on who we are and where we have come from in each of our unique life-stories. There are many things in life that we have no control over: the fact that we were born, how long we will live, etc. However, we are given the great responsibility of how we will respond to what is given to us in life and what we will do with the time that is given to us.
What Do We Really Want?
Read the following quote carefully and think about it for couple of minutes. Do you think this statement is true to life? Why or Why not?
Our greatest desire, greater even than the desire for happiness, is that our lives mean something. This desire for meaning is the originating impulse of story. We tell stories because we hope to find or create significant connections between things. Stories link past, present, and future in a way that tells us where we have been (even before we were born), where we are, and where we could be going.
Our stories teach us that there is a place for us, that we fit. They suggest to us that our lives can have plot. Stories turn mere chronology, one thing after another, into purposeful action of plot, and thereby into meaning.”
~ Daniel Taylor, Tell Me a Story: The Life Shaping Power of Our Stories, 1-2 ~
David was the great warrior-poet king of ancient Israel. He wrote many of the Psalms that we have in the Hebrew Scriptures. In one of his most famous, he meditates on his relationship with the Lord-God. Read the following passage slowly and carefully, taking time to think about what David is saying:
Psalms 139:1–18
Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
You understand my thoughts from far away.
You observe my travels and my rest;
You are aware of all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord.
You have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me.
This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I go up to heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol [the Grave], You are there.
If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits,
even there Your hand will lead me;
Your right hand will hold on to me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”—
even the darkness is not dark to You.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to You.
For it was You who created my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You because I have been remarkably
and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.
My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book
and planned before a single one of them began.
God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend;
how vast their sum is!
If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand;
when I wake up, I am still with You.
We need to know we are loved and secure.
In Psalm 139 above, David is meditating on his relationship to the Lord-God. He comes to several key conclusions: there is nowhere he can go to escape from God or get away from him; the Lord-God knows David intimately—better than David knows himself; the Lord is the one who created David; the Lord knows about all of David’s days—past and future; all of these thoughts are too much for David to get his mind around.
We all have core needs/desires that drive us. We all need to know that someone really “has our back;”ultimately we all need and want to know that we are loved. Knowing that we are loved brings security. This is a core human need and ultimately it can only fully satisfied by knowing how much Father-God loves us in Christ.
We want our lives to be satisfying, fulfilling.
Living a satisfying life of satisfaction and fulfillment in this life is not grounded in what we have, but in who we know. Think about what Jesus says here:
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Here Jesus is talking about His people, His “sheep” as he likes to call us. Jesus has come to us to give us abundant life. This is life in the fullest measure. The only way to discover full and satisfying life is to know Jesus and be known by Him – The Creator and Sustainer of all things.
We want to know our lives will be significant.
We want to know that our lives count for something, that we will make a difference, an impact in the time we have. We take comfort in knowing that we will be remembered even after we are gone.
But we need to know that the life that we have here on earth does not end at death. We will all exist forever, but we will not all live forever. What we are doing here on Earth is really training us for the next life to come. Consider this:
1 Timothy 4:8
For “physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.”
Godliness is living your life in the way that the Lord-God Himself would live it if He were you. The great news is that we have a living example of what this looks like: Jesus. He is God in human flesh. He is our great example and we want to follow Him.
For the rest of this week, we are going to look at your life up to this point and think about where you have come from so that you have a better sense of how Father-God has been working in your life through these desires and needs that He has placed in all of us.
Think about three or four of your greatest fears in life. How would you describe them? How many of them have one of the core needs/desires?
Think about three or four of your greatest dreams, desires for life. How would you describe them? How many of them have one of the core needs/desires?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
