This week has been full of planning meetings for the semester that starts for us this coming weekend. There has been a lot of discussion about goals, strategy, assignments and the like, but I love that our job is firstly concerned with how our personal walk with the Lord is. We’ve had a few conversations about where we are at in our walk, what things we’ve been reading, exploring and praying about. I recently finished a great book that taught me a lot about the culture in first century Palestine while Christ was in the midst of his earthly ministry; after finishing that I felt that I needed to invest some time pursuing the heart issues of my walk with God.
A few (5) years ago I read Desiring God by John Piper and enjoyed it thoroughly. We’ve had his followup book When I Don’t Desire God sitting on our shelf for quite a while now and the title describes my heart how it usually is. I want to desire God, but I often do not. I want to serve Him, which usually is done out of obligation, not joy…
Also, I started re-reading the book of Isaiah. I’m reading it in a few different translations including the JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh. Chapter 1 verses 12-17 stood out today.
When ye come to appear before Me,
who hath required this at your hand,
to trample My courts?
Bring no more vain oblations;
it is an offering of abomination unto Me;
new moon and sabbath,
the holding of convocations–
I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed seasons My soul hates;
they are a burden unto Me;
I am weary to bear them.
And when ye spread forth your hands,
I will hide Mine eyes from you;
yea, when ye make many prayers,
I will not hear;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean,
put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes,
cease to do evil;
Learn to do well;
seek justice, relieve the oppressed,
judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
As I read the passage, the word that stands out to me is obligation. Quoting Deuteronomy, Piper talks about the sin of serving, worshipping or pursuing God out of obligation rather than joy.
One might ask… why I would lay so much stress on joy in the Christian life. Why not just talk about God, the object of joy, and leave the experiences to take care of themselves?
It is not [me] who commands us to rejoice in the Lord; God does. God elevates this experience of the heart to the level of command, not I. And he does so with blood-earnestness. “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, …you shall serve your enemies” (Deut. 28:47-48). “God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.” (Jeremy Taylor) This fight for joy is not a warfare that I appointed. God did.
Quite honestly, I fall short here often. It’s always boggled me how God could purposely ignore prayers and worship; but now it makes sense – if they were not in earnest, if they were not sincere why would God accept them. The illustration that Piper uses in his former book is that of a husband giving his wife flowers. When she asks why he got them his answer is very important. If his honest answer was, “Because I love you and think you are wonderful,” she would be happy, even overjoyed. But, if his answer was, “Because it’s my job to buy you things like that. I have to do it,” she would land somewhere between underwhelmed and upset.
It’s amazing to me how much the circumstances of what you’re reading along with whatever else you’re reading play in together to illustrate each other even when you’re reading them for independent reasons.
