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Excavating

I have a professor who is constantly telling us at this point in our studies we should be leaving behind the fruit of things to get to the root of things. In our studies we need to get to the root. "We are all about the root, gentlemen."

So I have been attempting to get to the root of some things in my walk with the Lord. In studying 1 Samuel we see that the people asked for a king, and one of the reasons they wanted a king was to be like the other nations. Throughout the Old and New Testaments this is a constant battel within God's people -- the desire to be like the rest of the world. Scripture constantly calls us out to be holy because God is holy.

If we are truly God's people, why do we have such a hard time with this? Why this strong pull to be like the unbelieving world? Last night at Prayer Meeting we discussed many possible answers. I shared what I feared was close to the root of the issue for my life, and perhaps the lives of others.

I wonder if the issue is the absence of a pure heart. I do not long for God and for nothing else. I do not find that God satisfies me completely, so I long for and pursue fulfillment in other people and pleasures. I find myself bored, lacking joy, feeling as if something is missing. I wonder if not only am I dissatisfied with God, but also disappointed in God. Things are not how I wanted them to be or thought they would be. In fact, life is unfolding in alarmingly unsatisfying ways.

The past month I have listened to these words come out of the mouths of many, many people. Some, even many, of these folks are seeking for what is missing, and they are looking in all the wrong places. I am convinced what is missing in so many of us is finding our satisfaction and fulfillment in God. God is not all-sufficient and all glorious to us. He is not all we want and all we need.

If you find yourself secretly wanting to be like the rest of the world, I suggest you practice the spiritual discipline of fasting. As I fast I deny myself things I think I need in order to be reminded that God is all I need. The hope is to reach the place where God is all I want and I am content with God and God alone. So when I feel sorry for myself and experience the profound dissappointment I sometimes feel and begin to self-medicate with all this world has to offer, I must instead humbly turn to the Lord, deny myself, and long for God and nothing else.

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