Sunday, 22 June 2008

• Desiring the Things of God

  In response to a_defiantbeauty_2’s question posted on Heart’s Desire:
  So, how can we desire (I suppose God wants us to since it is written in the scripture) without coveting?

  Remembering always that He desires that none should perish but all should have everlasting life through faith in the saving work of Jesus ~ so that our desires are indeed aligned with His through the transforming work of the Spirit, it would seem that the focus is certainly on the heart condition.  Whether by His perfect will He has seen fit to grant us the trivialties in life, or how many gifts He chooses to give us, is up to Him.  When we can come to acceptance of His perfect love, every good and perfect thing becomes a gift from Him, and the disappointments can be covered in contentment as we focus our eyes on His beautiful face. 

  Our desires come into alignment with His will under the protective covering of contentment in our own lives and the priority of placing others and their need for care and salvation ahead of our own.  He desires that none should perish.  He desires that His children experience the gifts and blessings in coming under His loving covering through prayer and obedience.  And He desires to bless His children. 

  If we are spending our time, and I have to evaluate this in my own life as well, thinking on what we don't have, we are not allowing ourselves to experience the fulness of joy found in giving thanks always, praising Him for all His wondrous works.  So His will is also that we focus on things that are "true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise ~ meditate on these things.  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." ~ Philippians 4:8,9

  Another way to look at it might come from the scriptures themselves ~ The word "COVET" is used in 7 scriptures:

  Exd 20:17, Deu 5:21, Mic 2:2, Rom 7:7, Rom 13:9, 1Cr 12:31, 1Cr 14:39. 

  The first 5 involve coveting something that belongs to someone else - the sinful coveting, based on a desire to take away from someone else, the heart being one of selfishness and greed.  Interestingly, the last 2 references involve "coveting" or earnestly desire spiritual gifts.  Here we can learn that the difference is based on WHAT IS COVETED.

  The Hebrew word, CHAMAD, used in the OT references is defined as:
  1) to desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in
       a) (Qal) to desire
       b) (Niphal) to be desirable
       c) (Piel) to delight greatly, desire greatly

  And the Greek, epithymeō, in the NT means:
  1) to turn upon a thing
  2) to have a desire for, long for, to desire
  3) to lust after, covet
       a) of those who seek things forbidden

  The scriptures you referenced, involving the word "DESIRE", tell us further that the difference is based on the HEART OF THE DESIRER.  In each case mentioned, as well as throughout the scriptures, the heart of the righteous (who is turned toward God, seeking His fulfilled will and His glory) is the receiver of God's blessings, while the heart of the wicked (who has put himself on God's throne of rule, seeks to fulfill selfishness and greed, and to glorify himself) will not be granted satisfaction of desires.  So again, the one whose heart is stayed on Thee will experience blessings in fulfilled desires and answered prayers, as the individual seeks in meekness and humility to draw closer and closer to the heart of God.

  So to desire something greatly, in itself, is not always used in the negative tense, but rather depending on the source and the object of desire.  In this way, we can further understand the answer to your question about desiring the things of God without coveting.

  Lexicon Source: http://cf.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=covet&t=KJV

   

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