Truely Satisfied

Intro

I think most people at some point in their lives have wanted something that felt out of reach. Wanting something they can’t have. Can anyone relate to this? Maybe as a teenager you liked someone that never seemed to notice you back. Maybe it was a car you dreamed about.

Maybe your desires are more noble. You desire a safe cozy home for your family. You desire for your children to make good decisions. You desire for them to have a relationship with Jesus.

Maybe its a step further, maybe what you want would be in everyone’s best interest. You want someone you believe to be good, to not have to suffer anymore. You want healing. You the abuse to stop. Your wants are all good things.

When we want something, it can certainly impact our prayer life can’t it? Our praying can sound like anything from asking to pleading. Sometimes we’re even making our case in reminding Him of the positive things our desires would accomplish, as if somehow we are sharing something with God He is not already aware of. As if somehow we are looking from a vantage point that God does not see. We possess the variable he some how is not considering. We remind Him and then He’ll know. How arrogant are we to think, that because God hasn’t responded in the way that seems obvious to us, that somehow we might know more than He does?

The reality is though our vantage point is nothing compared to the one who made us. We can’t see the end or the beginning, just the present. God sees it all.

He knows what is temporary, and he knows what is lasting.

I’m reminded of the story of the woman at the well, and Jesus telling her that everyone who drinks of the well would thirst again, but those who would drink the living water would never thirst again.

When we are pleading for that great and noble thing, are we considering what Jesus might offer, could be limitlessly better than what we had in mind. Even while trudging through a present struggle, have we considered what we are asking for may not be as satisfying as what God has in store?

It’s my understanding you are currently going through a study of the beatitudes, a series of messages Jesus shared to his listeners while preaching on the mountain. For years many had prayed and desired to live free from foreign occupation. Jesus was offering freedom just not the kind many of them knew they really needed.

Matthew 5:6 profoundly records Jesus statement change slide

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Jesus doesn’t say, Blessed are those who are righteous. It says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness! Those who yearn for righteousness to take place. They are the ones who will be satisfied. We’ll talk more about what that means. Before we go further, lets pray.

How does God expect us to respond when things don’t go according to our plans? Does he not want us to make plans at all? Does God want us to not have dreams or Earthly aspirations?Why does he allow the rug to seemingly be pulled out from underneath us without much warning? If you are like so many people I have met, your shattered dreams may have left you wondering if God is still actively involved in your life. You may have been tempted to wonder if He even cares or if you’re to broken and bruised to be healed by Him. You probably wonder quite a lot about what to do next.No matter what has happened or how you feel, please know you’re not alone. Because here’s what I am learning: Everyone needs healing. Everyone. Everyone is not okay sometimes. Everyone has experienced a punch to the gut at some point and been disappointed one way or another. Everyone needs healing from our brokenness. Everyone.Quick Side note: We all experience different levels of pain. Just because some of us have felt some sort of pain that may appear at a more intense level does not discount the pain others may be feeling even if it is a degree lesser. As an example there are plenty of parents here with teenagers. You know the hurt they can bring home. Often their experience of hurt doesn’t always fully reflect a real world level of hurting out there. They haven’t yet had to stress how the bills get paid, or maybe haven’t experienced the loss of a loved one. But their hurt is still real and is still the most pain they have experienced to that point. Other people’s facebook page may show all the highlights of the good things happening in their life and might even appear as if they have no problems. When in fact a marriage is crumbling, miscarriages take place, or behind all the stuff that person has acquired or the vacations that person seemingly has the money to go on, is a mountain of stressful debt. As long as sin still exists, Everyone in this room needs healing from brokenness. Everyone. I think the big struggle for many of us believers in Jesus is; is that God does exist yet so does a lot of pain and suffering. You read in the Bible many many examples of good faithful, people subjected to suffering, they seemingly didn’t deserve. Today we are going to touch on that. Pete Wilson, pastor of the Crosspoint Church in Nashville, TN writes, “What do you think our response is to be when we go from the good-news parts of life into the bad news season where everything seems to be falling apart, from our desired plan A into a plan B we never asked for and don’t want? I think there is a question that can lead us into a deeper more intimate relationship with God… if we have the guts to ask it.The question is this: What would you do if you were absolutely confident God was with you?

Is our view of God as righteous, dependent, on the manner in which He fulfills our requests to Him in our prayers.

Today I want to be a little bit raw and vulnerable with you.

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Some of you who we have stayed closer in touch since Meggan and I answered a call to move to Spartanburg, SC, know we’ve had some exciting and difficult things take place since we moved away from here. In 2018 while we were still serving in this High Country district, we decided we wanted to start growing our family. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to plan. At different points that year we thought Meggan might be pregnant only to find out it wasn’t the case. Shortly after our move to Spartanburg and a little over a year of trying, we decided to essentially get ourselves checked out. We found out there were some issues, but we did have some options. As we sorted through those options and more and more check ups, time kept passing. I’ll be honest, time passing made things harder and harder, because every option we looked at just made for more and more delays. After another year and half we finally went forward with IVF. Of course you have to wait like 10 days after to find out if it was successful or not.What a special day that was, we were actually camping, in our newly purchased pop-up camper for the first time. Meggan woke me up on the morning the last morning we were there and told me she was pregnant. We tried to keep it quiet, but we couldn’t help telling members of our family and a few friends. God had answered our prayers. All our visits with our fertility specialists had been positive and sonograms looking good.

Unfortunately, the pregnancy did not last and we had our first miscarriage. We decided to have things analyzed and it was discovered their was a genetic issue on my end on top of the issues we had already established that we found out even our remaining 4 embryos likely wouldnt survive with the same result of the previous. We still tried, as one was given the designation of Mosaic embryo which 50/50 viability even though it was the least healthy of those remaining. Longstory short, it attached, but only briefly resulting in another miscarriage. We were now years into this process of waiting for God to answer our prayers.

We were heartbroken, and unfortunately mostly suffering in silence. We were hurting. We felt every option we had pursued was a long drawn out closing door. A few lessons we were continually having to learn was, patience, endurance, and trust and faith that this journey to become parents would have to be something outside of our own control. On the due date of what would have been our first born, Meggan and I both took a day off from work and traveled to Asheville for a day to think and pray. While we couldn’t afford to stay in the Grove Park Inn, there we did go sip some hot chocolate and look out at a beautiful view. It was there we decided/realized God had a different plan for us. We talked at length about the prospect of adopting. Finally we experienced some semblance of peace.

change slide I’ll tell you about the journey as we continue, but just over a year from that date, this past April, we were back at the Grove Park Inn, gifted a two night stay from our church for Pastor’s Appreciation week. We were their glued to our phones though waiting for news that our baby Elizabeth was being born.

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If you have your Bibles I want to refer you to the gospel according to Luke, chapter 8 verse 22.

Luke 8:22–23 ESV

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.

change slideDesire of Ages comments on this story:

Desire of Ages Chapter 35—“Peace, Be Still”Absorbed in their efforts to save themselves, they had forgotten that Jesus was on board.

Can anyone relate to this experience, of being in crisis. In forgetting God is right there with you through it all? If any one here is unwilling to admit they have felt this way. I’ll admit it happens to me almost daily just at the frustration of not knowing where my car keys are. change slide

Luke 8:24–25 ESVAnd they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Let me ask you all a question to ponder.change slide How could Jesus possibly sleep on boat in the midst of a violent storm?The disciples were trying to prevent the boat from going down, and they wonder. “How can Jesus be SLEEPING at a time like this?”Is that what is happening in during the storms in our life, Is Jesus just asleep?

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When Meggan and I decided to pursue adoption, we also decided to come forward with what we were wrestling with, in our infertility, and our grief over miscarriages. It was so strange as much of this was happening during the height of the pandemic, this was the thing weighing on our hearts the most personally. We shared on facebook and Instagram our story with the purpose of if there was anyone else suffering in silence, that they were not alone and that their was no shame in battling something which was outside of our control. The response was overwhelming, hundreds of responses and private messages began pouring in.

Eventually we were even able to share our story with our church and even during our evangelistic series “Hope For Hurting Hearts.” It gave us even more confidence that God was leading us in this direction. We met with others who had adopted and researched agencies. I’m not going to pretend we didn’t have fears and obstacles. The cost financially was beyond daunting, and well beyond our life savings. More waiting, after we had already waited years, waiting to be selected. To often we were praying for action from God, and kept being met with “hold on” “have faith.” While waiting we felt helpless. We had full scale adapted to plan B, and now still playing this waiting game with God.Meggan and I are by no means the only members of our church family to have some difficult moments and have to adapt to a plan B. What are your conversations with God like while you are calling out. Do you ever feel like He is sleeping, during the storm raging in your life?So back to my question and our story, how could Jesus sleep in the middle of the raging storm?

change slideDesire of Ages reads: When Jesus was awakened to meet the storm, He was in perfect peace. There was no trace of fear in word or look, for no fear was in His heart. But He rested not in the possession of almighty power. It was not as the “Master of earth and sea and sky” that He reposed in quiet. That power He had laid down, and He says, “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” John 5:30. He trusted in the Father’s might. It was in faith—faith in God’s love and care—that Jesus rested, and the power of that word which stilled the storm was the power of God.

change slideAs Jesus rested by faith in the Father’s care, so we are to rest in the care of our Saviour. If the disciples had trusted in Him, they would have been kept in peace. Their fear in the time of danger revealed their unbelief. In their efforts to save themselves, they forgot Jesus; and it was only when, in despair of self-dependence, they turned to Him that He could give them help.White, E. G. (1898). The Desire of Ages (Vol. 3, p. 336).

For me when I really contemplated this, I experienced a bit of a paradigm shift in thought. When we stop and realize God is with us, that God is RIGHTEOUS, we can be empowered to step through the great obstacles of fear in front of us.

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This word translated righteousness in Matthew 5:6 is a greek word “diakaoesne” also translated in other places, “right” “justice” and “justified.”

Jesus says Blessed are those who are are pursuing righteousness, and justice!

Wait! Is Jesus not answering my prayers or my desires because they are unrighteous? Am I not justified in my request, is that the reason I am met with silence?

No no, that is not what I am suggesting. But I do know that God’s righteousness is beyond ours. There is not blending with selfishness. There is not ulterior motivation. God is a giver. He takes no pleasure in seeing his people suffer.

If I have learned anything in the 8 plus years I’ve had the privilege of pastoring, is that everyone is going through something. Some of us welcomed the mask wearing during church during the pandemic, not so much for safety reasons but to hide the pain on their faces they were experiencing and walking into church with. I think many of us have entered into the new year looking out for land mines, afraid of what else could be out there. Quite frankly, I think that is what the devil wants. He wants us to be scared. He wants us to believe God has abandoned us and that we face life’s challenges alone.But the truth is God is there. Our problem is when we allow our circumstances to distort our view of God. That happens so easily when we’re reeling from bad news, or tragic events in our lives. There is nothing like the painful whiplash of a painful situation to leave us feeling that God is, indeed, a million miles away. Maybe this is how David felt when he wrote this psalm. change slide

Psalm 42:2–4 ESVMy soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.

We may not like to admit, because maybe we feel petty or immature, but when things are not going as planned in plan A, we get the sense of being abandoned. Don’t we tend to wrap our plans, and our dreams, and our desires around our concept of God’s presence so that when these elements mentioned, don’t go our way, we assume or rationalize God just isn’t involved or out there anymore.Yet I believe the truth is: (and feel free to write this down). If we will pay attention, we will find God is most powerfully present, when He seems most apparently absent.

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Desire of Ages reads:

Desire of Ages Chapter 35—“Peace, Be Still”How often the disciples’ experience is ours! When the tempests of temptation gather, and the fierce lightnings flash, and the waves sweep over us, we battle with the storm alone, forgetting that there is One who can help us. We trust to our own strength till our hope is lost, and we are ready to perish. Then we remember Jesus,

I want to continue that quote first , but let me interrupt for just a bit. While we were waiting to be selected by a birth mom or birth parents, Meggan and I would walk through our neighborhood and confide our wonderment if this was ever going to happen. We were feeling helpless. We were worn out from wanting. Every time our phone would ring we’d wonder if it was someone from the agency. In mid march, I was picking up some items at walmart and my wife was teaching. My phone started buzzing, with a number from Kansas. While most might right that off as a junk call, I knew that was the area code our agency was in. Sure enough I answered and Meggan and I in seperate places were being patched in. We had been selected and now we had to decide if we wanted to accept. Well that was a no-brainer…Of COURSE! We were ecstatic. True to the process we had to wait longer than a month beyond the in-accurate due date we were given, waiting 5 Sabbaths before we got another call that the birth mom was in labor and that we should head to the hospital. We were told neither of us could go in because of covid restrictions but you know what, they let Meggan be in the delivery room and I had my ears pressed against the wall listening!

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Our baby Elizabeth was born 6 lbs 9 ounces. The one God knew about all along, from the beginning of our prayers, God had heard our prayers and had heard us lay out our plans. God knew what we were pursuing. It wasn’t anything evil or selfish. But God had a truly satisfying plan that would not only quench our hunger and thirst, our longing. His Righteousness was revealed to us, and for that, we give Him praise.

To continue my earlier Desire of Ages quote: change slide

Desire of Ages Chapter 35—“Peace, Be Still”Then we remember Jesus, and if we call upon Him to save us, we shall not cry in vain. Though He sorrowfully reproves our unbelief and self-confidence, He never fails to give us the help we need. Whether on the land or on the sea, if we have the Saviour in our hearts, there is no need of fear. Living faith in the Redeemer will smooth the sea of life, and will deliver us from danger in the way that He knows to be best.

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Jesus would declare and help define better what we are are seeking when we are hungry and thirsty for righteousness.

John 6:32–35 ESV

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Jesus declares multiple times He is the ingredient if we are truly seeking righteousness and justice to take hold of our lives, that will never spoil. Jesus is the giver of something Truly Satisfying.

He is what are hearts are yearning for, even if we don’t even know it yet.

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John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:9 ESV

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Let the righteousness of Jesus be what we hunger and thirst for!

Have patience in your requests. Remember God is more righteous than even our most righteous and justice filled request. We don’t have to remind Him of our suffering and pain. I assure you He sees it and hurts right alongside us. Instead let our pursuit be for Jesus and his righteousness to be enabled in our lives. May we, as James writes, count it a joy to suffer for the cause of Christ. Allowing Him to work even when we don’t understand.

God may give you something you didn’t know you wanted or needed but I promise what he offers is truly satisfying!