Daily Devotion

February 3, 2015

Covetousness (3)


“He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” Ps 106:15 NKJV

See if you recognize this pattern. As slaves in Egypt the Israelites pray, “God, get us out of here!” So He does. Then in the wilderness, on their way to the Promised Land they say, “God, we’re gonna die out here. We were better off in Egypt. At least there, we had all the food we wanted.” So God sends bread from heaven. He even delivers it to their door. It was a diet so perfect that “there was not one feeble person among [them]” (Ps 105:37). Did that make them happy? No! They said, “We’re tired of this stuff, we want some prime rib.” So God says, okay, “[I’ll] give you meat, and you will eat it…until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it” (Nu 11:18-20 NIV). Covetousness angers God because it is rooted in pride that says, “I deserve better,” and ingratitude that says, “I want something other than what You’ve blessed me with.” The saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Because they thought something else could satisfy them in a way that God couldn’t, “He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” With God, you can be satisfied with very little. Without Him, all your acquisitions and accomplishments will leave you empty. What are you coveting, putting your life on hold for, or continually begging God for? Nothing is essential but God. Material things can never take His place. What will it take for you to come to that settled place where the central desire of your life is, “God, I just want more of You”?

 

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