God’s abundant life for us
by Dr Kirsten Due
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I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places – firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry (Isaiah 58:11).
Read Isaiah 58: 1–14
Joy is found in doing what matters to us – in getting the desires of our hearts. Peace and meaning are found in pursuing and conquering our dreams … so says Instagram Chapter 1:1–5. Facebook and Dr Google say something similar … take time to appreciate yourself; remove your own barriers to happiness. Spend time looking inwards and build your self-esteem.
Sounds good? It is NOT the gospel. It is a road to pride, despair, suffering, quarrelling and ‘chasing after the wind’ (Ecclesiastes 2:11). But it is a mantra that drives our lives.
We are built for God’s joy and the fruit of his Spirit (which cannot be separated from knowing him). The places we search for joy reveal the brokenness of our hearts – the Mercedes car yard, Realestate.com, the TAB or the MCG. God knows none of these things are bad in themselves – but they cannot bring any lasting joy. Doing ‘good deeds’ can’t bring any lasting joy either, whether that be trying to build Christian community, going to church, or cleaning up after that exhausting and mammoth Easter production.
Isaiah 58 tells us that when we chase our dreams instead of God’s, we cut ourselves off from real joy. We can be so certain that what we are doing is right that we rebuke God for not answering our prayers and get angry when barriers block our path. But in Isaiah 55:8,9, God says, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.’
We need to be prepared to consider that all the good WE have decided to do may not be that which God has given us to do. We may ‘seek God’ daily so that we can tell him our desires and how he should go about fulfilling them, but by sheer grace, God does not abandon us to our own dreams and feelings. Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said something along these lines: ‘Every human dream we try and force into life is hindrance to genuine life and must be banished [1].’ The way of the Spirit is in surrendering to God’s plans and trusting him to do his best for us.
The wonder of it all is that even when we make mistakes and follow our own ways, God makes everything beautiful. He will ensure that despite everything, we will be like a well-watered garden, a bubbling spring that never runs dry. That’s his gift to us in Christ, who experienced our dryness and was broken by our sin. In doing so, he defeated sin and rose victorious to give us his abundance.
Dear Father, teach us what is important to you. Help us to let go of chasing our dreams and so fill us with yourself that we forget about looking inside for happiness and chasing after the wind. Thank you for saving us from ourselves and sending your prophets and preachers who tenderly remind us of your healing truth. Amen.
[1] paraphrased from Bonhoeffer, D, 1939, ‘On the divine reality of Christian Unity’, Chapter 1, Community, Life Together, Part 3,
Dr Kirsten Due lives in Darwin with her husband, Noel, who is currently serving in the Top End Lutheran Parish. She has a postgraduate degree in psychology and is a doctor of medicine, currently engaged in remote area work in the Top End. She has written a book of children’s gospel stories (Bearen Bear and the Bunbury Tales) with a commendation by Andrew McDonough.
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