“Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to
Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. ‘What is it you want?’ he asked. She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons
of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus
said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I
am going to drink?’ ‘We can,’ they
answered. Jesus said to them, ‘You will
indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to
grant. These places belong to those for
whom they have been prepared by my Father.’” (Matthew 20:20-23)
The Psalmist promised, “Delight yourself in
the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) That sounds like the key to getting
everything out of life that I want. And
my wish list is a long one: wealth,
prestige, power, etc., etc. I have to
admit that I would like it all.
But not all that I desire is something God
will give me. After all, my heart is
“deceitful above all things.” (Jeremiah 17:9)
The story from Jesus’ life of the request
from the mother of James and John is an example of heart desires that God does
not grant. The request was wrong. It was requested with a wrong spirit and
wrong motivation. It was not a request
that was motivated by God and it did not come from a heart that delighted in
the Lord. The request came from the
selfishness of the heart of the mother -- or perhaps of her sons -- and God
said “no.”
Thank God that we don’t always get everything
we think we want. The world would be in
even worse shape if all of us got what we wanted. However, the more we focus on the Lord and
delight in Him, the more heart surgery He will be able to do on us. And as our heart reflects His heart more and
more fully, the things we desire will be granted.
If we truly and fully delight in the Lord -- then,
He will give us the desires of our hearts!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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