We've been having small groups in our church for the past three weeks around the topic of marriage, watching a series of sermons by Andy Stanley. The teaching is absolutely awesome; it has to be the best, simplest yet most profound teaching on marriage I've ever heard. Andy has a gift for teaching a Biblical truth and really getting across the siginificance of it.
One of the insights I had last night as we talked about desires vs. expectations was "If you expect your spouse to do something, and they fail/forget to do it, you can be angry at them. But if its something you desire and they don't do it, you can be hurt and disappointed." I think hurt is behind anger anyway. When somebody cuts me off on the road, I'm hurt that they are disrespecting me, I'm hurt by their rudeness. It is Jesus who wants to be there when we hurt. He desires that we would come running to Him, and not to anything else, for comfort and healing in our hurts.
Andy talked last night about bringing our desires to God, casting all our cares on Him. We often think of bringing our hurts to Him, but do we bring our desires to Him? Our group discussed how we pray these prayers with 15 qualifiers usually along the lines of "If it's your will...." God said "Seek me first, and I'll give you the things you desire." I think this ties in with Piper's famous idea "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." Yet I think God loves to shower us with His blessings big and small as we continually humble ourselves before him. Humbling ourselves, as Andy explains it, is seeking Him first, being willing to let God's deal be more important that my deal. "In due time, he will lift you up." "Ask and you shall receive." "He will give you the desires of your heart." Maybe I should read Piper's book Desiring God. Does anyone have insights from that book along these lines?
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