HH Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div
During his lifetime King David watched his kingdom rise to the heights promised to Abraham. Heady days, those. He defeated vast armies and watched as God interfered with the plans of those who attempted to take him out, restoring him once more to the throne of Israel. David allowed his longings to lead him into the kind of sin that caused death and devastation to others. Humbling days. Yet Paul, the great apostle, said,
God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’. — Acts 13:22
As we’ve turned through the pages of David’s life, we’ve seen the sin, but we’ve also seen humility, worship, trust, hope, repentance, strength, and love. The greatest gift of King David’s life to me is this: his absolute trust in the goodness and mercy of God no matter what raged around him. David’s story reminds me that it’s not how you start life that matters; it’s how you finish. When Samuel the prophet came to anoint the next king, you’ll remember that David’s father didn’t even think to include him. He was just the boy in the field with the sheep.
What about you? What occurred in the first couple of chapters of your life that has caused you to count yourself out? I believe that’s going to change. As I look around the world, I see that God is raising up an army of women. They don’t look like much to be concerned with, but they are mighty. They are the ones who are tired of listening to the enemy’s about our lives and are ready to believe God’s yes!
Saying yes is the passionate pursuit for the rest of my life, this calling of God’s sons and daughters to live a better story, a bigger life. Whatever your path has looked like up until this point (unless there is a white chalk mark around your body), it’s not too late to change, to rise up and be the woman God has called and created you to be. You are not defined by the past. You are qualified by the great I Am.
As I charted the course of writing The Longing in Me, I did so with an awareness of several things in my life. I knew that the longings I’ve had in the past for protection or closure have led to dark, difficult, and dead-end places. Anytime I’ve expected to find complete fulfilment in another person or situation, I have always experienced disappointment. I know, too, that the desperate desire of my heart is to navigate through the maze of this messy world to find the One who loves me as I long to be loved. Those two realities have driven me. I’m not one who writes as an expert on a subject. I’m one who writes out of a hunger to understand.
As I sit at my desk today and look back on my life, I see two inescapable things: the brokenness of my choices and the faithfulness of God. I so want you to see this! In the worst days of my life, living with the poorest choices I could have ever made, God was there. He never left me. He never sat back and said, “Well, you did it again. That was your last chance!” He’s never left you either, never did and never will. His love for us isn’t based on our perfect performance, but on the perfect love, He has for us.
God is for you 100 per cent. He loves you and welcomes you just as you are. He will never turn away from you, never be too busy, never stop listening, and never choose to be with someone else rather than you. One of the attributes of our great Father is that He is omnipresent. He is with you right now just as He is with me. But unless you believe that, you’ll never trust Him with your deepest longings. Instead, you will try to satisfy your longing outside of who He is and what He provides.
So that’s the choice. Will you believe?
