How God Uses Our Longings

Yesterday in the first worship service of the New Year, I asked the congregation to cup their hands together. Imagine that your greatest longing lays in your palms. Present them to the Lord as an act of trust and worship.

Why does God give us burdens in the first place? Here's what I've learned:

• The Lord gives us longings to remind us our weakness. We are needy. We are not self-sufficient, try as we may.
  

• God uses our longings to remind us of our greater need for God himself. When we forget God, He sends problems our way to drive us back to Him.
  

• God uses our longings to show us His greatness and power. Through our struggle, God works, and in a very real way, we see that God is alive.

• Sometimes, our longings need revising. Either we want the wrong things, want it for the wrong reasons, or at the wrong time. Trusting God with our desires means that we're willing to let God reshape our wants.

What need or longing is in your hands? Bring it before the Lord. In doing so, you live out this word:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).