Kingdom Currency (3)
Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37.3, 4
Don’t deny desire
It can sound a little “iffy” to some Christians to think that we are motivated above all else by the desire for pleasure. We tend to think of pleasure and desire primarily in sensual and material ways and consider these to be somehow inherently evil or wrong. Thus, desiring pleasure doesn’t sound quite “right” to those who have chosen to follow Jesus.
But God promises to give us the desires of our heart. That being so, having a heart filled with desires must not be a bad thing, or else God would not encourage us to enjoy whatever it is we desire. It is no small part of the Kingdom economy that our days should be filled with pleasure, the result of seeking the desires of our heart.
Of course, God’s promise to give us the desires of our heart comes with qualifications. If we delight ourselves in Him, then He will give us the desires of our heart. Our desires are likely to go awry and to reflect the sensual and self-centered desires of the world’s economy unless our first and overarching delight is the Presence of God, His grace, and His pleasure.
In other words, we must not deny the role of desire in our souls, in helping us to realize our full potential as beings made in the image of God and active agents in the Kingdom economy. At the same time, we need to make sure our desires are rightly focused before we begin to seek them. If the pleasure we seek—the object of all our desires—is the pleasure of God Himself, then of course, God will give us as much of that as we desire.
The pleasure of His company
To be in the company of God, and to participate in Him, is to be completely immersed in grace. God, John reminds us, is love (1 Jn. 4.8). We have received the gift of eternal life, which is to know God and, thus, to know grace (Jn. 17.3). The promises God makes to us, which He has fulfilled in Jesus Christ and which He calls us to lay hold on, will enable us to “partake” of God (2 Pet. 1.4)—to abide in Him, know His Presence, share in His being and attributes, enter His pleasure, and experience His glory. In God’s Presence, David explained, are fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
When you delight in this, God will be ready to extend to you all the grace you’ll ever need for abundant and fruitful living in His Kingdom economy. Delighting in God and partaking of Him is the great secret of the divine economy.
But what is that like? What’s it like to partake of God? To know His pleasure and glory? We can only barely begin to describe this experience, because knowing the Presence of God and the joy and pleasure that come with that is an experience more wonderful, mysterious, amazing, uplifting, hopeful, transforming, and secure than any words can describe.
In the Presence of God, as His Word illuminates us and His Spirit enlivens us, we experience a heightened sensitivity in our souls. Our thoughts, affections, and values—everything that makes us truly spiritual people—are intensified, clarified, focused, and stimulated in thrilling, even ecstatic ways, that cause all other desires and pleasures to pale into insignificance. In God’s Presence we experience terrifying fear, yet wondrous warmth and safety and holy acceptance. We are overwhelmed and almost crushed by the reality of God’s Being, and, at the same time, we are lifted up and seated with Him in heavenly places of beauty, wonder, majesty, and power. We feel humble but exalted; out of place but perfectly at home; strangely lifted out of temporal reality into an eternal and unchanging realm and life. Our minds sparkle as spiritual insights collide, conjoin, expand, and swell; our hearts light up with excitement, joy, wonder, fear, and love; and all our priorities collapse into one continuous recitation, “Lord, it is good for me to be here!” We know we do not deserve to be here, basking in all this, but here we are, only by grace, and all in grace.
More of the same!
When we delight in God like this, when it is our highest pleasure to enter His grace and enjoy the pleasure of His company and the mystery of His transforming glory—when we delight in God like this, all the desires of our heart will be for more of the same, more of His grace, more of His Presence with and in and through us, more of His pleasure and glory, more of the time in every area and all the work of our lives.
In the Presence of God we find all the grace we need to make our way around in the Kingdom economy. Desire God and His pleasure, and He will give Himself freely to you.
If the people of Israel, as they returned to the land of promise, had understood this, if they’d really known that God’s glorious Presence in their midst would bring them joy and pleasure they could otherwise never have known, they wouldn’t have wasted their strength and time indulging the pleasures of the flesh. And when they finally did return to God’s purpose for them, and began to seek His pleasure, then God provided for them all that they needed and more, just as He had promised.
Yet even then, the people were only beginning to learn what it meant to live within the divine economy, where grace is the currency by which they could become rich in the pleasure of the Lord.
For reflection
1. What do we mean by desire? How does desire work in a person’s life?
2. Why is desire a good thing? What can make desire not such a good thing?
3. Do you think it’s important that people should understand where their desires are focused? How would you suggest they do that? Why?
Next steps—Transformation: Meditate on the phrase, “rich in the pleasure of the Lord.” When have you experienced this? Spend an extended season of prayer working on making Him the desire of your heart. Wait on Him in prayer until you know His Presence with you.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: In our Read Moore column this week, we begin readings from the book, Such a Great Salvation. Our Crosfigell series on Brendan of Clonfert finds him in a bit of a setback, sailing back to Ireland to start all over again. You can subscribe to Read Moore and Crosfigell and receive them in your email regularly. Use the Subscriptions box at the bottom of the page to update your subscriptions. All subscriptions are free. Click the Articles tab on the home page to see all the selections available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
