His Standards*

⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
⁹ Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need.
¹⁰ Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.
-Psalm 34:8-10

God is so so good to those who trust in Him.  But not just "good" by our standards.  He is good by His standards.

It can be so easy to forget about this.  We are so easily deceived into believing that our own wants and desires are what is "best" for us.  But where is our heart in our desires?  "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4

When we focus our hearts on Christ, He becomes our desire.  Pleasing our Master should come before pleasing ourselves.  And pleasing our Master is what should bring us ultimate joy.  What an honor that Christ loves me and desires me to carry out even the smallest bit of His plan!

When He becomes our delight, our hearts line up with His, and His desires become our own.  I take comfort in knowing that He never changes.  I am the one who is constantly changing, waxing and waning; meanwhile, He remains.  And if the things I desire are constantly changing, how can fulfillment ever be achieved?  When my desires become His unchanging desires.  He is so good.

We must take refuge in Him!  Trust Him in all things.  In doing so, He will give us all we need.  Every good thing, by His standards.  Placing our trust in Him brings us into His family.  "God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."  Ephesians 1:5

He wants to give us, His children, good things!  In Matthew 7:9-11, Jesus displays this clearly:  "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

So what is it that keeps us from fully pursuing Jesus, knowing that in doing so, He will provide us with all our needs, our desires?  What is it that triggers my waxing and waning, constantly changing?

For me, it seems to be my perception of time.  I so enjoy doing things and being with people!  Filling my schedule to the brim!  In doing this, I'm constantly aware of time.  Or at least, my earthly perception of it.  But Christ is continually bringing me back to remembering that my perception of time is limited.  He has an eternal perspective.  Concerning Christ's return, in 2 Peter 3:8, we are reminded:  "But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day."  God has a different perspective than I do.  When I rest in this truth, it brings me such comfort!  And yet, I can still forget.  I need to be patient and wait for His timing.

God you are so good.  Thank you.  I'm choosing to rest in you, Lord.  Please remind me when I forget.

*This is a blog post from my old blog, originally written February 20, 2011.