Wanting

What does the Lord owe us? Are we due anything?

Anything?

I can see why this world trades up all the time. Apart from Christ, this life here is as good as it is ever gonna be, so it better be good. I know I'd feel that way! Just sit back and watch...you'll see people trade up cars, houses, jobs and spouses. Not to mention constantly upgrading TVs, furniture, and countless different gadgets.

Always. Wanting. More.

Should we be able to have all we want? How about if we are 100% justified in wanting what we want? Are we owed health, long lives, and relationships that work the way they're supposed to? And does anyone have the right to stomp their feet if they don't have these things?

My life is full and rich. I feel so blessed, I can hardly take it all in. But I want sometimes. And the things I want are very legitimate, even woven into my heart by the Lord Himself. So what happens if this life of mine comes and goes and my legitimate wants never materialize? Do I have the right to shake my fist at God simply because the things I want--but don't have--are legitimate?

Sovereign God, You have fulfilled countless desires of my heart--not yet all of them. But You don't owe me anything. Not wealth, not health, nor a life free of hardship. You don't owe me as many years as I hope to have on this earth, if in Your sovereignty You know it's best to bring me home before I would choose. And if not one more of my "wants" is fulfilled in my lifetime, You are good, and You are plenty enough.

You don't owe us the plans we've mapped out for our own lives. You don't owe us a ministry that does what we hope it will--even if we're doing it all for You, nor are we due the number of children we once hoped we'd hold in our arms. You've poured out so much, and we praise You for it all--but we're not owed any of it. What about couples who long for children but may never have them, and all the people who long to be married but remain single year after year? Did You owe Your disciples--Your friends--a painless death surrounded by loved ones looking on? That wasn't their fate. Each one of them entered into the glory of Heaven through the most terrible deaths. Or how about Leah in the Bible, who had to have been able to pick up on her husband's lackluster reaction when he found out he'd gotten her for a wife--shouldn't she have gotten to have the joy of knowing she was adored and cherished, rather than spending her life knowing she was unwanted, and was left wanting for her husband's affections? Even my friend Evelyn Rice--a woman who loved You SO MUCH--suffered with MS for seven years before passing away, leaving her family wanting for her.

YET YOU ARE SOVEREIGN--LORD OF ALL--and You give as You have purposed. And when we're left wanting here on this earth, thank You so much that You are enough--totally sufficient to satisfy. There are things we just won't grasp until we see You face to face. We know that this time of wanting here on earth is a blink of an eye compared to an eternity of wanting no more.