Satisfied with God's Design - Psalms 129-131 and I Corinthians 11:1-16
Most people are very independent. They want to do things their own way. They do not want to be told how to live. They may not be rebellious, but they are just not satisfied with submitting to someone else, even if that someone is the Lord, who made everything by His perfect design. The end result of this independent mindset is confusion and conflict, because the only way life works at the optimum level is when we accept God's design and live by it. Only then are we truly satisfied, because God's knows how to satisfy us completely.
The psalmist gave us this truth when he said that his soul was like a weaned child within him. How does a weaned child feel? The psalmist said it was a calm and quiet soul. However, I can imagine that before the calm, there was a struggle. The child did not want to be weaned from his mother. He liked nursing and being close to her. However, God's design was for the child to grow and to be able to feed himself. Therefore, after the struggle came the satisfaction of following God's design. What the child resisted, he now embraces as good and right. This is true in every area of life. We would want God to take away all obstacles and enemies in life, but that is not His design. He wants us to trust Him to take care of the enemies. If we submit to His design, we grow in our faith. If we try to do it our way, we are defeated. We want to have God show us everything that will happen in the future, so we can see it physically or prove it scientifically. God wants us to hope in Him. Hope is God's design. When we embrace God's hope, He will give us the assurance of the future in our hearts, even if we can't see it with our eyes. God knows this will increase our faith, too. It is always best to follow God's design and be satisfied by Him.
In I Corinthians 11 we read a discussion of the role of men and women. It is hard for men and women today to submit to God's design, but it is still the only way to be satisfied. Many people have a problem with the ideas of authority and submission. Look at Jesus. He had no problem submitting to God, the Father. He realized that someone had to be the head. Jesus was able to live a perfect life, a life that accomplished God's design for Him, because He submitted to God's design. We can do that if we will follow God's design, too. I pray that we will not argue with God, but ask Him to show us His design for us and follow it. Then, we can be like that weaned child. We can have that quiet, calm soul He designed us to have.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 132-134 and I Corinthians 11:17-34.
The psalmist gave us this truth when he said that his soul was like a weaned child within him. How does a weaned child feel? The psalmist said it was a calm and quiet soul. However, I can imagine that before the calm, there was a struggle. The child did not want to be weaned from his mother. He liked nursing and being close to her. However, God's design was for the child to grow and to be able to feed himself. Therefore, after the struggle came the satisfaction of following God's design. What the child resisted, he now embraces as good and right. This is true in every area of life. We would want God to take away all obstacles and enemies in life, but that is not His design. He wants us to trust Him to take care of the enemies. If we submit to His design, we grow in our faith. If we try to do it our way, we are defeated. We want to have God show us everything that will happen in the future, so we can see it physically or prove it scientifically. God wants us to hope in Him. Hope is God's design. When we embrace God's hope, He will give us the assurance of the future in our hearts, even if we can't see it with our eyes. God knows this will increase our faith, too. It is always best to follow God's design and be satisfied by Him.
In I Corinthians 11 we read a discussion of the role of men and women. It is hard for men and women today to submit to God's design, but it is still the only way to be satisfied. Many people have a problem with the ideas of authority and submission. Look at Jesus. He had no problem submitting to God, the Father. He realized that someone had to be the head. Jesus was able to live a perfect life, a life that accomplished God's design for Him, because He submitted to God's design. We can do that if we will follow God's design, too. I pray that we will not argue with God, but ask Him to show us His design for us and follow it. Then, we can be like that weaned child. We can have that quiet, calm soul He designed us to have.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 132-134 and I Corinthians 11:17-34.