YOU’RE ON REPORT, MISTER!

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 (NIV©2011)

My Internship training director said that I had a "checkered past." He was referring to the variety of careers I have had due to retooling each time we moved. In one of these squares, I taught school - and in keeping with the checkered theme, a different grade each year. My sojourn into the second grade classroom was just as delightful as the rest.

One morning, as I was beginning instruction, a man came to the door, knocked, and one of my darling little blond boys looked up and went to the door with his head down. The man stuck out his hand and the child placed an object in it about the size of a deck of cards. The ex-navy grandfather snapped, "You’re on report, mister!" It turns out that the child had been staying with his grandparents and had found a super show-and-tell. It was the man’s garage door opener.

That image popped in my mind yesterday and made me smile. Then I thought of Psalms 37:4 and the conclusions we draw from it. We (I) have presumed the meaning to be, if I love and follow the Lord God, he will give me the desires of my heart (that are his desires first.) The question occurred to me: What are the desires in my heart? What if my desires were self-deceiving and self-serving, that place my goals ahead of God’s plan but I had convinced myself I was serving him? Will the Lord put me on report?

Many of us rehearse the phrase in Psalm 37:4 that falls after the coma. We feel entitled to our own desires and are convinced, if we call on God, he will grant us our wishes. God sounds more like a genie than the Lord God Almighty. First, we need to delight in the Lord: surrender to him, know him, learn of him, fellowship with him, let our lives be filled with him. Then . . . with a heart full of God, he will give us those desires that dwell in our spirit-filled heart. Let us pray:

"Lord and Father God, I come to worship and praise you. I take my joy and delight in you. Fill me with your holy spirit so that my desires are your desires and my heart is filled with you. Forgive me when I deceive myself into believing that you follow me, blessing me as I carry out the plans I have created, rather than the truth of discipleship: it is the servant who follows the master. May your desires be my desires and your joy my joy. In the name of Jesus Christ, your son and my redeemer, I pray. Amen"
Doris

"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
www.dorisgainesrapp.com