A Resounding Melody
Arrived at my parents’ house to discover a sweet surprise. Sitting in the guest room was a familiar instrument which I had mentioned a couple months ago as wanting to practice again. Had, during a stressful week of conferences this November, taken a little time to plunk out some sounds on an old upright piano at the school, and have since wanted to return to some of the songs I had once played when I was studying piano.
To find that small, black keyboard waiting for me was a treasure, not only because of the joy of being able to play, but also – far more – because of the fact that a desire I had voiced had been remembered, and provided for.
Added to that, it was as I played that I recognized that, the tune I’d written when I was about fifteen (the only song which comes so easily to my fingertips) was written on that very keyboard. And so I am struck by several glimpses of God’s dealings with us.
For one, He is mindful of our desires, precisely because He is the One in Whom they originated. As Psalm 87:8 proclaims, “‘All my springs of joy are in You.’” What delight have we in anything found outside of Him? Ecclesiastes only reiterates: “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?” (2:25). As one friend worded it, we have no need to look outside of God for our “worth, protection, or comfort.” All we lack is found within Him; all of our needs are only meant to point us back to the One who alone can satisfy.
For another thing, His unfolding of that provision underscores, in how comprehensively it fulfills, that He has always been addressing the longing. Though His timing may not correspond with our haughty demands, what He bestows proves, in its quality, to far transcend that which we would have hastened to secure for ourselves. As Isaiah 64:4 and 1 Corinthians 2:9 agree, what God has prepared has not even entered the heart of man; the goodness which He grants, as Father of Lights (Js. 1:17), is so far above what we could appreciate or anticipate (see Eph. 3:20-21).
Added to the fact that our desires are born of Him and met in Him, there is also the reality that He would make us acutely aware of Who the Source is; Who is behind the ache, and Who is completing the fulfillment. Just as I can look at that old keyboard and see that it is there that God inspired a simple song, and let me enjoy for the first time the delight of music’s pouring through me, so there are moments when He draws us to the very point where He first introduced us... to our incompletion, to our recognition of what we knew (innately, by His grace) to be our good. He does not leave us wandering, or in some other region, detached from what He will complete in us (Ph. 1:6). Instead it is to His delight to return us to the foundation, where that ‘song’ was birthed.
And so, while it is not God’s plan to fulfill every longing we have this side of heaven, there is still the recognition (which the Enemy so often blinds us to) that our God, the One who joys over us (see Zeph. 3:17), who most willingly gives good gifts to His children (see Luke 11:11-13), has designed for us to receive. And it is not to our shame to be indebted. Instead, it is to our delight to accept from His hands that which He has lovingly prepared for us. For it is when we accept from Him that we submit ourselves to the truth of His character: that it is His ‘open hand’ which ‘satisfies the desire of every living thing’ (Psalm 145:16).
To find that small, black keyboard waiting for me was a treasure, not only because of the joy of being able to play, but also – far more – because of the fact that a desire I had voiced had been remembered, and provided for.
Added to that, it was as I played that I recognized that, the tune I’d written when I was about fifteen (the only song which comes so easily to my fingertips) was written on that very keyboard. And so I am struck by several glimpses of God’s dealings with us.
For one, He is mindful of our desires, precisely because He is the One in Whom they originated. As Psalm 87:8 proclaims, “‘All my springs of joy are in You.’” What delight have we in anything found outside of Him? Ecclesiastes only reiterates: “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?” (2:25). As one friend worded it, we have no need to look outside of God for our “worth, protection, or comfort.” All we lack is found within Him; all of our needs are only meant to point us back to the One who alone can satisfy.
For another thing, His unfolding of that provision underscores, in how comprehensively it fulfills, that He has always been addressing the longing. Though His timing may not correspond with our haughty demands, what He bestows proves, in its quality, to far transcend that which we would have hastened to secure for ourselves. As Isaiah 64:4 and 1 Corinthians 2:9 agree, what God has prepared has not even entered the heart of man; the goodness which He grants, as Father of Lights (Js. 1:17), is so far above what we could appreciate or anticipate (see Eph. 3:20-21).
Added to the fact that our desires are born of Him and met in Him, there is also the reality that He would make us acutely aware of Who the Source is; Who is behind the ache, and Who is completing the fulfillment. Just as I can look at that old keyboard and see that it is there that God inspired a simple song, and let me enjoy for the first time the delight of music’s pouring through me, so there are moments when He draws us to the very point where He first introduced us... to our incompletion, to our recognition of what we knew (innately, by His grace) to be our good. He does not leave us wandering, or in some other region, detached from what He will complete in us (Ph. 1:6). Instead it is to His delight to return us to the foundation, where that ‘song’ was birthed.
And so, while it is not God’s plan to fulfill every longing we have this side of heaven, there is still the recognition (which the Enemy so often blinds us to) that our God, the One who joys over us (see Zeph. 3:17), who most willingly gives good gifts to His children (see Luke 11:11-13), has designed for us to receive. And it is not to our shame to be indebted. Instead, it is to our delight to accept from His hands that which He has lovingly prepared for us. For it is when we accept from Him that we submit ourselves to the truth of His character: that it is His ‘open hand’ which ‘satisfies the desire of every living thing’ (Psalm 145:16).
posted by Purple at 10:25 AM
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