Desiring God

I just began reading John Piper's Desiring God : Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. I'm so excited to be reading this book, and all I've read is the introduction! I also can't believe that it's taken me this long to get around to reading a Piper book. I have a feeling it's going to be full of things to share, so I'm going to start right now so that I don't get too far behind.

First, I seriously wonder if there wasn't a conversation in the Piper living room with Noel saying, "I understand what you're wanting to communicate, John, but do you really have to use the word 'hedonism' ". Just one of those things my weird mind will spend time thinking about, because that's what I would have said.

Now on to what really struck me. Am I the only one who grasps a truth that was so obvious that I wonder how I, or anyone else, could ever have missed it?

Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Now at first, one might think that if you delight in the LORD, he'll give you whatever stuff, things, dreams you have. Later, you might read, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires that He has placed in your heart." That was how I interpreted it. But let's take it at face value, shall we? "Delight yourself in the LORD, and when He is all your delight, He will give you Himself, the Desire of your heart." That is so much better than any other desire I could have or He could fulfill. Psalm 73:25-26 "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.