Longings
Longings
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD… Psalm 84:2
Longings are deep-seated desires. Look carefully at your longings and you will see the road map for your future. Our lives move toward where our longings point… for better or worse.
Because of the powerful role that deep-seated desires have on how our lives unfold, tending those desires is a vital practice for those who would walk closely with God.
Tending Your Garden
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Prov. 4:23).
There is a very important compartment deep inside you where you hold desires. Those desires will either originate from the Holy Spirit or from your own sinful human nature, your “flesh.” Following Spirit-born desires leads to life; following carnal desires leads to decline and death.
And that’s why the wise father in Proverbs 4 is impressing upon his son the absolute necessity of carefully watching over that inner compartment.
When he says, “Above all else,” he’s saying nothing could be more important! Certainly this is a message to teach our children and grandchildren. It should be taught in our churches.
This was an important lesson in my training. I was taught, from this verse, that our hearts are like gardens, and that we should tend to our hearts as we would a garden. We must carefully insure that the good seed of godly desires are growing in there, and that the weeds of carnal desires are quickly uprooted. Then those godly desires, those deep longings, need to be watered by encouragement from brothers and sisters in the Lord who want only God’s best for us.
First in the Heart
Think of it like this: things happen in our hearts first, then outwardly in our lives. On the negative side of things, for instance, before adultery is committed outwardly, it has already happened in the heart.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (James 1:14-15).
Murder and theft also happen first in our hearts. Is jealousy growing in your heart? Coveting? Uproot it quickly! Violence in our cities, and even wars among nations, begin with evil desires in hearts.
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel (James 4:2).
In contrast, as we walk in the Spirit we do not carry out those desires.
…walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).
Instead, new desires grow in our gardens. The desire to serve others, for instance, turns into acts of service. The desire for peace in relationships grows into acts of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Great enterprises and endeavors begin in the heart.
On Oct. 28, 1787, at age 28, William Wilberforce wrote in his diary, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.” These two goals became his governing desires for the rest of his life. Endeavors followed, including the demise of the trade slave in England. It happened first in the heart.
The Battle of Desires
In Galatians 5, Paul contrasts fleshly desires with spiritual desires.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do (Gal. 5:17).
When we speak of “sins of the flesh,” we normally refer primarily to sexual sins, or all those other really bad things that those other people do. We conveniently excuse ourselves.
The Greek word for flesh is sarx which has several meanings including actual bodily flesh. But when used in contrast with Spirit, sarx refers to mere human nature apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God. And understood like that, it’s much more pervasive than we had thought.
Paul lists some of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19. These are seeds to keep out of our hearts.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Yes, sexual immorality, sensuality, drunkenness and orgies are in the list. But so also you’ll see jealousy, fits of anger, enmity, strife, dissensions, divisions, and envy - all works of the flesh that we are much less guarded against.
We must be just as vigilant to notice envy and strife coming up in our gardens as we are sensuality and drunkenness.
Hidden Treasures and the Deep Scan
The heart is tricky. Sometimes we don’t even know ourselves what’s at work in our hearts. Rachel stole her father’s household gods and hid them from her father and her husband (See Gen. 31). Do we secretly hide treasures in our hearts that could subvert God’s plans for our lives?
Have you noticed how skillfully we can be at justifying these secret treasures? If we’re not careful, what we hide from others can become hidden even from ourselves.
Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! (Ps. 19:12-13.)
David was acknowledging that we may be oblivious to some of our inclinations even though they are probably evident to others.
I have a software program that scans my computer for malware and other threats. Every so often that program recommends a “deep scan.” Sometimes, our hearts need a deep scan. And usually it takes a crisis of some kind to allow God’s scrutiny to go deep into our hearts.
After a deep scan you’ll find yourself saying things like, “I am so sorry; I didn’t realize that I was so disinterested in what was so important to you.” Or, “How could I have been so enamored with my own ambitions that I shut out those closest to me?”
Our Savior’s Heart
Without divine intervention, our hearts will wander far and wide. Our longings will carry us down all the wrong paths and lead us to unpleasant outcomes.
However, there’s hope! Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has kept his heart. His predominant desire has always been to please his Father. He delighted to do his will (Psalm 40:8), even when it meant suffering (See Isaiah 50:6). His deepest longing was to live for the honor of another, not personal glory.
Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him (John 7:18).
As a result, he is qualified to be the Shepherd of our hearts. He is intimately acquainted with all our ways. Our self deceptions don’t fool him.
O LORD, you have searched me and known me! …You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path (Psalm 139:1, 3).
Think of that. The Omniscient God is searching out our paths! He’s studying our ways with penetrating insight. We should allow him to search us and know us, and to pry us loose from any and every illusion we have of ourselves, and to replace wrong desires with deep, God-honoring desires like his.
Nothing Above You
Years ago I wrote a song that contains this kind of praying. It was inspired by the story, mentioned above, of Rachel hiding her stolen household gods.
Nothing Above You
Nothing above you, nothing before you.
Nothing or no one competing with you.
No secret treasures or forbidden pleasures,
No secret longings concealed from you.
Chorus
You alone are my God, may it always be true.
You alone are my God. There is none but you.
No gods of my making, all idols forsaking,
You’re my Creator, Redeemer and Lord.
My heart is devoted to worship you only.
No other gods will receive what is yours.
Chorus
So, let us be for one another a fellowship of those who are keeping their hearts with all diligence. Lord, be the Shepherd of our hearts!
(Click here for a leadsheet for this song.)
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