Unmet Longings

How do we deal with our unmet longings–those things that are deep within us that haven’t been met by God? It could be a longing for a spouse, children, college education, full-time work, financial stability, etc. We pray until we can’t talk anymore. We cry out until there are no more tears. We talk about it with family and friends until there are no more words to say.

The best thing we can do with our unmet longings is to place them on the altar before God. This critical step of faith is about releasing everything we hold dear to our hearts and turning them over to God. Something happens within us as we turn away from what we want most—God renews our focus and energy on Him. There’s a shift in our spiritual walk that emboldens our faith to believe God for greater purposes. While we haven’t forgotten what we put on the altar, we know God is more than able to do above and beyond what we have asked of Him (Ephesians 3:20).

He is more than aware of our desires and knows the plan for our lives. When we release them to God, we are saying to Him, “I trust You. I trust in Your plans for my life. I release them to You for Your will to be done.” This is an important step of our spiritual maturity as it becomes ingrained in our hearts to hold everything loosely in our hands.

Jim Elliot once wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” God will satisfy our deepest longings as we return to Him again and again with surrendered hearts to His purposes more than ours.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I surrender all to You. I trust in Your plan for my life, and I know that my deepest longings can only find satisfaction in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

In His Service,

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