This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
God does not do things without a purpose. He has not set everything into motion and now sits by, watching things develop without the ability or interest to intervene. He has made everything that is, and he has done so for a good reason. In hardships, Christians can know that God is working all things together for their good and for the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:11-12).
Personally, I am often not present in my current circumstance. I am constantly looking forward. I look to what I am expectant for God to do. This can be a good thing if done with the correct perspective (i.e., Hebrews 11:10, Revelation 21). Sadly, more often than I would like to admit, I am looking forward in this life assuming that the grass is greener in the future–implying that I am not as happy or fulfilled as I feel I could be in the present–because that’s when God will have given me the desires of my heart.
Don’t worry. I know how ridiculous this sounds, but sometimes honesty sounds ridiculous.
I look ahead thinking that once God gives me (insert thing here) as I feel he is leading me to desire — and I don’t mean fleshly desires, but those that align with God’s word — then I will find the fulfillment God wants me to have. I will finally be operating the way that God has called me to!
The problem is, from that line of thought, I must ask myself: does God want me to find ultimate fulfillment in things? Allow me to refer myself to Psalms 63 & 135.
Obviously, there is some truth to some of these things — note the double use of “some.” God does place good desires in the hearts of his people, but to lack joy until those desires are realized — if they are realized — is not his intention.
Okay, I got it. Live in the now. Don’t think about the future at all… wait.
Should I be attempting to better understand God’s wise, decretive, will for my future? Yes.
Is it reasonable and good for me to desire for, and aspire to, certain things in this life? Yes.
Should I do this at the expense of being present, rejoicing, thankful, and glad for where God has me now? No.
One thing is for sure: God has called me to be exactly where I am right now. He has called me to be a husband, father, employee, friend, and on, and on. What’s more than that, in all of it, he has called me a Son of the true and living God. By the grace of God I am what I am, and whether I remain precisely where I am today for the rest of my life, or if God creates tomorrow completely different, in it all I am a Son (1 Corinthians 15:10), so I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Lord, help me to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to you for your transcendent and immanent sovereignty in every day. Hear my pleas, but your will, not mine, be done.
The Drawing Board 