My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Psalm 84:2 (NIV)
My ‘flesh’ is a subject that kept me up last night. The psalmist says that my flesh can cry out to God. No doubt! I have cried many times in my conversations with God. I have shook my fist and screamed at Him. My flesh has a lot of emotion in it!
My flesh has to do with my ego. Oh, yeah. Even those of us who ask God to wrap us in humility still have an ego! The reason I was awake last night was because I was going to do something today not because it was the right thing but because I wanted a group of people to like me. (sigh)
My flesh is also about what I can see with my natural eyes. It’s what I can figure out on my own. It’s relying on me and ignoring the One who has the true picture and the wisdom to know the path He has laid out for me.
My flesh is about focusing on the here and now instead of eternity. It’s being satisfied with instant gratification instead of looking for the joy that lasts with Kingdom work. Example:
My flesh is about sin. I am a human being in a fallen world. I am a descendant of Adam. I sin. I have ‘areas’ that I battle. Spending time with the Lord each day brings sin down and obedience up. I read the Scripture and learn from those before me. I read and hear God speak about His laws and His plan and love.
[God says,] “I will sprinkle clean water on you , and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.â€
Ezekiel 36:25-28 (NIV)
God has come into my heart. He took my heart of stone. It became stone through pain and listening to the world tell me – that it’s all about ME! That makes me cold and looking to my own interests. God changed my heart on a night in 1995. He gave me a fleshly heart so that He could mold it and put His Spirit into me. He put a complete heart into me. It was complete because it was a heart for Him. I yearn for Him. I cry out for Him.
By the way, if you wondered what happened last night: Once I got quiet and listened (!) and heard the truth of why I was going…I felt God’s peace. I asked God to forgive me. I received His forgiveness and His love…and slept well. (smile)
