Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

“When Michal, the daughter of Saul looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Eternal without thought for how he looked, she hated him.” (2 Samuel 6:16)

Michal cared for have David looked as her husband in public. As king of Israel, she expected him to act with reserve and dignity. She was getting her life in some way by playing the role of the dignified king's wife. Her harsh speech to David flowed from this expectation and inner desire.

Matthew 15:19 notes, “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

What is in our heart is usually what comes out of our speech. Luke 6:45 says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

It is not that Michal needed to work on her words she spoke to David as much as the root of thinking and desires behind what she said. Proverbs 4:23 states, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it {flow} the springs of life.”

Wayne Muller in his book Sabbath, writes of the issues of one's heart in their actions. As we spend time with God, “rather than speech that issues from sub-conscious needs to impress, to put others in their place, to compete, to control and manipulate, to repay hurt with hurt, we now notice our own inner dynamics and choose to speak from a different place. A place of love, and trust, and true wisdom that God is cultivating within us.” [1]

Our “natural” way in a fallen world is to crave, manipulate, and take revenge. Ephesians 2:3 says, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”

And 1 John 2:16 speaks of these / cravings that drive us for gratification - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. As John notes, these are from the world.

As we indulge the desires of the flesh – we buy more, consume more, and put our energy into trying to position ourselves, politely boast about ourselves, these cravings grow. They are never satisfied. Proverbs 27:20 notes, “Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes.”

Joseph is an example of someone who initially craved approval. He would tell his father all the things his brothers did wrong so that he looked better. He positioned himself with his father and was favored with a special robe made just for him. This didn't 'fill' him or satisfy. So then as he had dreams about being positioned higher than his brothers, he was quick to tell his brothers about it.

Through suffering, losing all his family relationships, and being sold into slavery, he began to change. He began to let go of these desires and grow in trust. Paul notes in 2 Corinthians 1:4, “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

God was with Jacob in everything and he had great favor with his master, Potiphar. However, he even lost this through a false accusation by Potiphar's wife as he was being faithful to God. In this lowest, dark place of prison, Jacob changed. Rather than being empty and needy for approval, he became a reservoir of wisdom to all around him.

He operated out of God's heart which was loving, kind, compassionate and full of mercy rather than from a place of performance or his neediness for approval as he was placed in prison for doing everything he was asked by his master.

Once he was released from prison and put in a position of power, this was no longer a craving / desire for him but a stewardship from God. He forgave his brothers and cared for their needs when he was given the opportunity. He demonstrated the generous mercy of God who would provide for those who caused him such significant harm.

Paul was also one who knew this death to desires and consolation through God. He goes on to write in 2 Corinthians 1:5-7, “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort....”

Where we need to start is is putting these false desires and cravings to death. 1 Peter 2:11 warns us, “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.”

Wayne Muller speaks of Sabbath as a place of fasting from desires. He notes that “Sabbath is a time to stop, to refrain from being seduced by our desires.” When we are hurried and rushed, we are more likely willing to pursue cravings rather than genuine desires that give us life. [2]

He writes, “The antidote to craving is rest; we quench our thirst with Sabbath tranquility. We invite a time in which we can taste what we have been given, take delight in what we already have, and see that it is good. We focus less on our lack, and more on our abundance.” [3]

Rather than allowing ourselves to pursue our cravings, we put them to death by letting them go and coming before God. Rather than want and getting more, we stop and genuinely appreciate what we have, even sharing it in gratitude with others around us. We enjoy the moments as we spend time with those around us.

Sabbath rest does not have to be a place of disengaging from life and getting alone with God necessarily. It does not need to mean solitude. Rather, it can be a place for enjoying what we have and what we have been given, practicing letting other desires go. He notes that as we let these desires go, little by little they dissolve.

Paul proclaimed in Philippians 4:11-13 while in prison, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me..."

Lord, I find lately that I have have spent too much time being dissatisfied with what I don't have rather than grateful for the abundance you place before me. Help me to recognize these desires that are worldly cravings and let them go. Also, forgive me where I have been resenting or shrinking back from difficulties in my life. I can see where sometimes this is the means you use to bring freedom from worldly desires. Let us grow in trust and Sabbath rest as we look to you. Let us be people who are reservoirs of your wisdom, kindness, mercy and compassion to all around us.

1-4.   Muller, Wayne.   Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives.  Bantom Books, NY NY.   1999