I WANT
But those who boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. (Jeremiah 9:24)
I want to delight the Lord and please Him in all things. That is what I want. Is that what I do? Unfortunately, no it is not! But I want to and I will by the grace of God. I will.
Jeremiah said in chapter 4:10 that Israel could return to Him if they wanted to. He would take them in. He will take us in if that is what we want. What do we want most? There was an old cheer that said we want a touchdown. When do we want it, now! Usually when we pray, we want it now! That is partially, because that may be the only time we talk to God is when we want something!
Of course, some people do not talk to God at all. If they would, He would welcome them. He would listen. He wants to hear from us. Even though he told Jeremiah not to pray for the people and they He would not listen to them any longer; ultimately God said they could return if they wanted to.
God is so good. We should tell people that! We could if we wanted to. Why wouldn’t we want to? When do we want to delight the Lord? Is it when we get around to it, or we have a good reason to because He has finally done what we want?
When He does do what we want, do we give Him glory? Do we share the story? Do we even know we have a story?
Before I sat down to share this, I was distracted by the litter boxes. As I began to scoop, I asked the Lord how I could delight Him cleaning litter boxes. He simply said do it well. This led to a conversation with God. We both enjoyed our time. And well here I am telling you about it. Originally it was an act to please my bride, and I suppose the cats too. What bonus, God was delighted too.
If we set our hearts to please the Lord; we will. If we want Him more than we want anything else, we will experience everything else. I do not have a long list of things that I have done for God, but I have a very long list of things that He has done for me. As John said, if I tried to write it down, there would not be enough paper or room for all that the Lord has done.
There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting things from God. In fact, we know that He tells us to ask because he wants to give. We just need to remember that He is greater than anything He could give us. There are times when people want performance proof from God. He has performed enough to prove that He is God! He wants us to want Him!