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| “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.” |
| —Isaiah 26:4 |
The dictionary defines the word “yearning” as “a feeling of intense longing for something.” Psychologists tell us that the direction in which we focus our yearning affects the state of our minds and plays a very important role in setting the outlook we have on any particular day.
For example, I read about a man who connected on Facebook with some friends from high school. Now in his mid-forties, he began to spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on the past. In his mind, he relived what he considered his “glory days” in high school. He thought about his romantic yearnings. He considered the times when he had great success. He remembered his fellow students who showed kindness and affection for him. He also remembered those who had treated him in such a way that had made him feel important and worthwhile.
From this point forward, his conversations always took on a tone of yesteryear. He located his high school yearbooks and other memorabilia and began scanning photos to post on his Facebook timeline. He shared stories of his time as a teenager. He made many comparisons between those long ago days and his current situation. Even though he had a lovely and devoted wife and four beautiful daughters, his posts took on a tone of how much better his life was back in high school than his life was today.
Like all nostalgic moods, his psyche edited history. He didn’t seem to remember the painful times, the times of discouragement, the sense of angst that he actually felt growing up. He forgot how empty he felt because he did not yet know Jesus. He focused so much on the past that he neglected the present. He began to compare the groundedness of his mature Christian life of today with the wildness and frivality of his youth.
As he realized how many of his classmates had gotten divorced and were re-living their days of freedom, he began to contemplate divorce himself, even though there was nothing really wrong with his marriage that a few “tune-up” counseling sessions and some concerted prayer couldn’t correct.
You see, this man allowed a sense of false yearning to promote him living in the past and forsaking the present in a way that could very well destroy his future. His backward looking through rose-colored glasses brought unrest and dissatisfaction into his current life. His distorted view of yesteryear clouded the clear view he would normally have of the blessings that God had given him in his present circumstances.
When he wrote the words found in Isaiah 26:3-4, 7, 9a, the Prophet Isaiah reminded the people of Judah to remain steadfast in their yearning:
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.
This day, and every day, let’s turn away from the past and keep the eyes of our minds and hearts on Jesus. Let’s live in the present, ever grateful for the pathway of steadfastness that He lays out before us. Let us yearn only for Him and for the obedience of being His devoted disciples.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, July 9, 2015
