The Desires of your heart vs. God's Will

This was a letter to my brother. He's been feeling down. I feel like I know what he's feeling because in some ways he sounds like I did, and sometimes do. So here you go, some real brotherly love - eat your heart out Philadelphia.

Yea, sometimes life kinda sucks. Here's a little something that makes me feel better when I feel like that...

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-14

1 "There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him."


The whole idea behind this is that God is working all things in your life ultimately to work on you, bring you closer to him, and ultimately to glorify himself. I think that 13 really nails the problem: That everyone may.. find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God.

I can tell you, this is the hardest thing I've found to learn yet: to find satisfaction in where you are, and who you are; not in where you think you're going. As it turns out, all things happen for a reason. Even a break up with a girl that at one point you were sure you were gonna marry, 3 switches in career choices, and 3+ months of unemployment ultimately lead to God's glory and something better that God has in store for you.

Since I'm sharing wisdom I've discovered I'll tell ya an even bigger thing that took me a long time to figure out.. If you wanna know the will of God for your life Rule #1: read the Bible. It's cliche to hear it, sometimes terribly boring to do it, and if it seems like you're not getting anything out of it then you're probably not. And you should figure out how to fix that. But the honest truth is that if you're truly seeking after God, like really putting forth an effort, he transforms the desires of your heart to his desires for you. Romans 8:5 & Romans 12:1-2

I'm not saying all your current dreams will come true, but you might find that those things didn't really have much value, and new things will come to replace them. And, if you've ever asked God to give you more interest in it, he'll do that too, but he's not about to turn you into his little disciple puppet. The relationship thing comes from you being willing to act out what you believe.

P.S. Romans 12:1 says to offer your body as a living sacrifice.. the thing about living sacrifices is they have a tendency to step away from being the offering. Your job is to keep yourself in that place and be satisfied with it.

-Archer