Dear Lord, I acknowledge only You can fill those empty places in my heart. Help me stop the “If only I had” cycle and instead be set free with Your truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
30
THE SEDUCTION OF SATISFACTION
My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
—PHILIPPIANS 4:19
Have you ever been tempted to make seemingly small compromises in the short term that had the potential to take you away from God’s best in the long term?
I know this struggle all too well. But I also know that those small compromises build upon one another until they become a big pile of regret.
Temptation of any kind is Satan’s invitation to get our needs met outside the will of God.
One of the subtle ways he does this is to plant the hesitant thought in our mind that God will not meet our needs—that God is not enough. Satan wants us to feel alone and abandoned, so that we turn to his offerings instead. It’s the seduction of satisfaction.
Often the script that plays in our head is like the one I mentioned in yesterday’s devotion, I need __________ so I can be satisfied.
It’s what sends the wife on a budget off on a spending spree. She feels the thrill of the sale in the moment. But as she’s hiding the bags from her husband, shame creeps in.
It’s what pulls at the businesswoman to work harder and longer and refuse to build boundaries in her schedule. Always chasing that next accomplishment or that next compliment, but it’s never enough.
It’s what sent me on many eating sprees. The kids were loud, the house was messy, the demands felt beyond my control. So with great justification I’d indulge, only to have a bloated stomach and a deflated heart.
Satan’s temptation drains life. God’s provision sustains life.
This subtle message sold to us by Satan can be exposed when we understand the difference between a need and a want.
All of the examples above were wants—not needs. But oh, how Satan wants to make them one and the same.
When the difference between these two words starts getting skewed, we start compromising. We start justifying. And it sets us up to start getting our needs met outside the will of God. The abyss of discontentment invites us in and threatens to darken and distort everything in our world.
Listen: Satan is a liar. The more we fill ourselves with his distorted desires, the emptier we’ll feel. That’s true with each of the desires mentioned above. The more we overspend, overwork, or overeat—the emptier we feel. Remember, Satan wants to separate you from God’s best plans. He wants to separate you from God’s proper provision. He wants to separate you from God’s peace.
Satan’s temptation drains life. God’s provision sustains life.
Satan’s temptation in the short term will reap heartache in the long term. God’s provision in the short term will reap blessings in the long term.
Satan’s temptation gratifies the flesh. God’s provision satisfies the soul.
Oh, sweet sister, we must consider these realities when making choices today. We’re all just a few poor choices away from doing things we never thought we would. Especially when our hearts are in a vulnerable place of longing for something that God hasn’t yet provided.
And the time to prevent destruction from temptation is before it ever starts.
We are either holding fast to God’s promise or being lured by a compromise. And isn’t it interesting that the word promise is right there in the midst of that word com(promise)?
God promises, “I will meet all your needs according to the riches of My Glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, paraphrased). He is everything we need and so perfectly capable of filling in the gaps of our wants as well. We must let truth seep deep into the longings of our soul. Otherwise lies are prone to creep into this place of our desire.
Yes. We must trust God. Embrace truth. Live His promise.
Dear Lord, help me focus only on Your provision in my life today. I don’t want to be separated from You, Your best plans for me, or Your peace. Help me notice when the Enemy is trying to entice me with false desires, because they only lead to emptiness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
31
THE PATHWAY TO HUMILITY
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
—DEUTERONOMY 8:3
A friend of mine who is a young leader at a growing organization recently told me about some discouragement he’d been wrestling through. Basically, he’d been working so hard, seen great success, but was given no recognition or encouragement by his leaders. And hardest of all, due to some transitions in the company, he’d been demoted to a lower position.
I asked him a seemingly strange question on the heels of his admission: “Do you know what the opposite of pride is?”
He tilted his head and asked his own question, “Do you think I’m struggling with pride?”
I wasn’t trying to imply my young friend was prideful. I was setting the stage to help him see his circumstances through a different lens.
So I simply stated, “I believe the opposite of pride is trust in God. Pride begs us to believe it all depends on us. Trusting God requires us to place our dependence on Him. And the pathway that leads us away from pride and into a place of truly trusting God is paved with humility. Humility is never bought at a cheap price. It will always cost us something but will be worth the price we pay.
Humility will always cost us something but will be worth the price we pay.
“Might God be using these humbling circumstances to get you to a place of deep and unshakable trust in Him? If God sees big things ahead for you, and I believe He does, then He must remove all hints of pride. Even if pride is but a tiny thorn in your heart now, when you are given a bigger position with more recognition, that pride will grow from a thorn to a dagger with the potential to kill your calling.”
In the Old Testament, we see God revealing this same kind of pride-stripping process by feeding the children of Israel manna in the desert for the purpose of humbling them. It was crucial that God prepare them to trust Him as they stepped from the desert into their destined promised land.
Deuteronomy 8:2 says, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”
And then our key verse Deuteronomy 8:3 goes on to reveal, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
So why exactly was having to eat manna so humbling? And what can we glean from Deuteronomy 8:3 for our own lives today?
Here are three things I think we can take away from today’s key verse:
1. God is our provider. The children of Israel were used to looking down at the ground in Egypt and working the land to provide for themselves. They trusted their own hard work for their provision. Now, they would need to look up and trust God for His provision.
2. God’s provision is what we need but not always what we want. This manna God provided was not like the normal food the Israelites were used to providing for themselves. But God knew it was the perfect nourishment for those in the desert. He knows our needs better than we do. God is more concerned about our ultimate good than our temporary pleasure.
3. God’s provision protects our hearts. Our desires have the potential of corrupting our hearts. Man-made bread is not what gives the fullness of life God desires for us. Man-made success, riches, and popularity are the same way. They will not fulfill us like we think they will. Only the Word of God can seep into the hungry places of our souls and make the dead and discouraged places within come fully alive and deeply satisfied.
We must want Him most of all. And then He will see our hearts are prepared and trustworthy to handle other things.
At the end of our discussion, my young friend thanked me for helping him see that in each hard step of his journey as a leader, he’s either walking the pathway of pride, by trusting himself, or the pathway of humility, which is trusting God. And the same is true for each of us.
May we all choose to trust Him and let that be the lens through which we process our circumstances. May we see how God isn’t trying to break our hearts but rather make us ready for what He sees just ahead.
Lord, thank You for caring so deeply for me. Search my heart for any shred of pride. And help me live a life of humble and complete surrender to You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
32
WHAT ARE YOU MISSING?
The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
—PSALM 14:2
A few summers ago, my son Mark was working at a family camp. While the mountains were breathtaking, the friends were plentiful, and the food was every teenager’s dream, he missed home. Not horribly—but just enough to tug on the vulnerable places of his heart.
I knew he needed some sweet comfort from home. So, I packaged up some things he needed and a few items I knew would make him happy and sent my gift of love.
After a few days, I kept wondering when I’d get a text from him with smiles and “Thank you!” and “Wow! You’re the best mom ever!” messages. A girl can dream, right?
But no text message came.
Each day that went by, I grew more and more frustrated by his lack of acknowledgment of my gift. I started to wonder if he’d even received it.
I finally got ahold of Mark and asked him about the package, and he answered, “Oh yeah, I did get a box, but I haven’t opened it yet.”
Huh?
Who receives a gift of love packaged up and sent to them and doesn’t even take the time to open it?
In that moment, I felt the Holy Spirit prick my soul, “Lysa, sometimes you do this very same thing. Oh, if you only knew the number of experiences God Himself has packaged up and sent your way that you didn’t take time to open . . .
“Or the number of times God has planted a bunch of wildflowers at the end of your driveway just to make you smile, but in the rush of where you were headed, you didn’t notice . . .
“Or the number of times God has treasures in His Word waiting for you to uncover that would perfectly prepare you for something you’d be facing that day, if only you’d lingered with Him a little longer.”
Seeking requires me to sacrifice the things I feel compelled to chase so I can be available to notice God’s clear direction.
Today’s key verse, Psalm 14:2, reminds us, “The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”
I wish this verse were worded differently. I wish this verse read: “The LORD looks down from heaven to see many who understand, many who seek God.” But that’s not the reality of the verse. And sadly, sometimes in the rush of all I feel I must do, it’s not the reality of my life.
I want it to be. But my soul is so prone to distractions.
Seeking—really seeking—is more than just reading a few verses from the Bible in the morning and trying to be a good person that day. Seeking requires me to sacrifice the things I feel compelled to chase so I can be available to notice God’s clear direction.
Whatever we chase, like it or not, gains our full attention.
And I wonder sometimes why I feel a little insecure—a little unsettled—a little disappointed with things I thought would make me so happy. I guess you could say sometimes I get a little homesick.
While I love vacationing here in this world for however many years the Lord will give me, I know where my real home is, and I know who is waiting for me there.
And now I know He takes time to tie up little care packages from home—a few things I need, a few things I’m supposed to pass on to others, and a few things He knows will simply bring me joy.
Then God waits . . . to see . . . if I’ll notice—if I’ll remember . . . if today will be the day . . . that I lift up my face . . . pause in the busyness . . . and really seek Him above all else.
Dear Lord, forgive me for all the times I’ve rushed by Your gifts and overlooked Your blessings. Today, I want to pause and really seek You with all I’ve got. I love You, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
33
WHERE BROKENNESS RUNS DEEP
LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
—PSALM 16:5–6
Our sweet little dog, Chelsea, is not the brightest bulb in the lamp around cars driving down our long driveway. Though she has plenty of room to run and play inside our fenced-in yard, she is obsessed with trying to attack the tires crunching against our gravel drive whenever someone drives on our property. As a result, she had an unfortunate encounter with a moving vehicle one day.
I wept like a baby when I saw her. But, other than a broken front leg, a severely scraped-up back leg, and a nose with half the flesh missing, she fared okay. Mercy.
The vet informed us that in order for her leg to properly heal, we’d have to keep her calm for three weeks. Yikes. It would be a challenge to keep Chelsea still for three minutes. But three weeks? That seemed impossible!
Well, two weeks into the healing journey all that stillness got the best of sweet Chelsea in the middle of the night. She decided she would punish me with a fit of whining, crying, and banging my closed bathroom door. She wanted out and she wanted out now. She wanted to run and chase some unsuspecting night creature. The temptation was too strong and she was sick of sacrificing her freedom.
To be honest, I wanted her to be able to run and chase a night creature too. But my love for this dog would not permit me to allow her to harm herself. Her brokenness couldn’t handle that kind of freedom.
Not yet.
As I tossed and turned in the wee hours of the morning, that statement about Chelsea’s brokenness struck me as quite applicable to myself as well. How often do I find myself in situations where my brokenness can’t handle freedom outside the boundaries God has set for me?
I was made to be a victorious child of God.
Sometimes we need boundaries around our own unique struggles and temptations. Food. Screen time. Shopping. A certain relationship. God helps us put boundaries in place, knowing that we need more time to heal before we can step outside of them. Honoring those boundaries helps strengthen us and move us forward in our healing. Here are a few things I try to remind myself when I find myself like Chelsea—upset, crying, and trying to step out beyond what God wants for me in that moment:
• I am not made to be a victim of my poor choices. I was made to be a victorious child of God.
• When I am struggling and considering a compromise, I will force myself to think past this moment and ask myself, How will I feel about this choice tomorrow morning?
• If I am in a situation where the temptation is overwhelming, I will have to choose to either remove the temptation or remove myself from the situation.
• I have these boundaries in place not for restriction but to define the parameters of my freedom. Psalm 16:6 reminds me that the boundary lines God has placed in my life are in good and pleasant places. My brokenness can’t handle more freedom than this right now. And I’m good with that.
This battle is hard. Really hard. It can feel like a war is being waged in your head.
It breaks my heart that so many of God’s girls feel powerless in their struggles. But we can band together, get honest, grab hold of the truths that will set us free, and do something about it.
One of my own greatest struggles has been in the area of food. It’s what some of the following devotions will be a
bout. But I don’t want you to skim over them if food isn’t your struggle. I am praying you will take the truths I share and apply them to your own battles. Your own personal areas of weakness and temptation that the Lord has been stirring your heart to believe you can overcome.
Yes, victory is possible, sisters, not by figuring out how to make this an easy process, but by choosing—over and over and over and over again—the absolute power available through God’s truth.
Dear Lord, You know where my brokenness runs deep. Please help me to set some healthy boundaries and to heal. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
34
CONSUMED BY CRAVINGS
How lovely is your dwelling place,
LORD Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
—PSALM 84:1–2
A few years ago, a weight-loss company came up with a brilliant advertising campaign. Maybe you saw some of their ads. A little orange monster chases a woman around, tempting and taunting her with foods that obviously aren’t a part of her healthy eating plan. The ads perfectly capture what it feels like to be harassed by cravings all day long.
While I’ve never seen this orange monster chasing me, I’ve felt its presence. I’ve felt it for food cravings, but I know that we all feel it for something. Sometimes, many somethings.
Attention and satisfaction. Like me. Approval and appreciation. Follow me. Money and power. Give me. More, more, more. Sometimes it feels like the chase will never end, the cravings will never be filled . . . that nothing will ever be enough.
While the orange monster is a great way to visualize cravings, those ads fell short in their promise to really help a woman. The weight-loss company’s theory is to teach what foods are more filling and encourage consumption of those. But does that really help overcome cravings?
We were made to crave—long for, want greatly, desire eagerly, and beg for—God. Only God.
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