“Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God.
That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you,
God himself willing and working at what will give Him the most pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:12–13, The Message)
“Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
(Psalm 37:4, ESV)
On the surface, it would seem that the two scriptures above contradict each other. Paul writes that it is God working in us in a way that will give our Father the most pleasure. Yet, the Psalmist writes that when we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts! But they do not really contradict each other.
The key is contained in the first part of the Psalm: “When you delight yourself in the Lord.” When we want to do only that which delights Him, we find that His desires are ours, and what He wants us to do is fun! It is not circular logic. We find delight in pleasing Him, and we learn that His ways are infinitely more enjoyable than anything we could come up with on our own!
Bruce would have never dreamed of learning how to operate a mini-front loader or a tractor with a bucket! Yet, he got to do just that and had fun learning how to make it do just what was needed to be done to deposit gravel in the right place at the right time (and nowhere else!) for his co-workers to use. They created quite nice Tee-boxes and map posts for the 9-hole Frisbee Golf course at Cedar Canyon Camp.
The work we do can be physically tiring, and it may be mentally challenging as well; like figuring out how to make things you’ve never made before. Even the endless painting is rewarding when you see the completed project.
We look forward to next week when we start our next project at Camp Timber-Lee in WI. We have no idea what we will be doing, but we know that when He is directing the effort, it will be rewarding! 🤠 🤗
This week’s Blessings, Prayer Requests, and Schedule are here.
