They are filled from the abundance of your house. You let them drink from your refreshing stream. —Psalm 36:8
A fear that makes many people hesitant to wholly surrender themselves to God is that of losing pleasure: “Will I be happy?”
What if God wants me to give up my career, sports, my favorite hobby, my best friend, or the foods I really like? Would He make me stay in this unhappy marriage? Will I be fulfilled if I obey Him?
The problem is that we’re prone to seek pleasure in things and people that cannot ultimately satisfy the deep longings in our hearts. For our hearts can never be truly satisfied with less than Him. The unsurrendered heart pursues paltry pleasures, compared with the pure, infinite pleasures God wants to give us: “the path of life,” “abundant joy,” “eternal pleasures” that flow from His loving and generous “right hand” (Psalm 16:11).
If we put our confidence in the joy that Christ alone offers, He will lift us beyond our circumstances and provide us with a deeply satisfying foretaste of heaven’s eternal pleasures, even in sorrow, suffering, and struggle.
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The Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings
©2012 Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Scripture taken from The CSB
Make it Personal
In what ways have earthly pleasures felt shallow to you? How have you experienced the deeper joy of knowing and walking with God?