Solomon tells us that “a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing” (Proverbs 17:22, AMP ). God undoubtedly has a sense of humor; we need only look at some of the animals He created (it’s hard not to smile at the sight of a hippo, a monkey, or a puppy). Or think of some of the married couples you know: don’t you think God was smiling at the wedding as He looked ahead to the interaction of the wildly different personalities that will be living together?
In today’s Utmost reading, Chamber’s argues that, like the rich young ruler, we can be “speechless with sorrow” because we are unwilling to let go of the thing that stands between us and God. Chambers expands “Sell all that you have” like this:
“In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him, and then give God that.”
What I find so powerful in Chambers’ analysis of the rich young ruler is his point that the man understood exactly what Jesus was asking — and he didn’t disagree with his need to sell. He didn’t say, “Oh Jesus, you’re wrong about me; the real issue is this.” No, he recognized that Jesus had touched the very heart of the matter — his very heart — and he was unwilling to take the step.
What a terrible place to be in!
To find yourself confronted by God, knowing He is right, and wanting at some level to please Him — but unable to do it. This is an intolerable position, for you can never really go forward; every time you return to that thing, the Holy Spirit will gently remind you that it needs to be given up to God. What happens is that we come to the place where we simply avoid consideration of the issue; we wall it off and say, “You can go anywhere you like, Father, except here.”
This leaves us like the double-minded man described by James, “unstable in all he does.” We become unstable, because we love God — but not enough to do what He asks in this particular area of life. The result, if we are honest, is that we become miserable.
Chambers finishes by saying that “Discouragement is disillusioned self-love, and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus — not love for Jesus Himself.” If I am discouraged by what I hear the Spirit calling me to, then I must ask myself: do I love God, or do I love the idea of loving Him?
- filed in living the life
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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.