When we want...Desires and such.

I realized this post just came in time for Black Friday...or really the end of it. But as the day draws to a close, and I'm sitting here just reflecting I figured I could share a little something here. So pull up a chair (or pillow, book, stool, maybe a purse, pet dog...okay, don't sit on your dog!) and hear me out. 

Anyways, for the last few weeks, I've been eyeballing a certain giveaway for a specific dream camera. I love my current camera and to be honest, I do not want to part with it. But as of late, I've noticed it's kinda slowing down on me...and it might be high time for an upgrade. So when this giveaway popped up, you can certainly guess who got pretty excited. That's right, me. I wanted this camera badly. I prayed over and over for it...and it literally messed with my nerves. I couldn't stop thinking how great it would be to have this sweet camera. I can't afford a new one right now (or hardly in the near future) and figured if the Lord willed, this Canon 5D Mark III would be mine! Mine, I tell you! 

So last night...after much thinking, reflecting, begging, wishing...I realized I needed to read the Word. To get back into the Bible and see what the Lord would say. 

About a new camera.

I know, I know....I'm one silly, foolish girl. Not for reading the Bible but for pining after a camera.

And I went to Matthew 7: 7-12

"⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ⁹ Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

This was it! I was asking for a camera and He would give it because I asked! I've been asking for a Mark 5D II for a few years and since the Mark III came out the request has been changed. But He could/should give it since I've been consistently asking all this time! 

Right?

You know, for some reason...as much as I wanted to sit, chill, and get comfortable on verses 7-8...the Lord led me to verses 9-10. The picture here is a father giving something that his son needs not something that will harm him. This father knew what to give his child for his child to survive. And here, Jesus says, "How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" 

You see, I know that my Father in heaven loves me. It takes much reminding, but I know it...at least in my human finite perception. At first glance, I thought, "Yes, He loves me. Therefore, there is nothing withholding Him from giving me this camera. Absolutely nothing."

But as a child of God, what if I was asking for a stone...or a serpent? What if the thing I'm asking isn't what I should be getting? I work with kids and I've been around them long enough not to give them what they ask for because their requests would be dangerous. If a child asked me if he/she could snack on a snake they found under the playground slide my resounding answer would be a NO. Or if they wanted to munch on bread that's been sitting under a cafeteria table for a week, my answer would still be NO. It's not good and not meant for them to have. 

There is nothing wrong with owning this camera. But at this time and moment...does it have the potential to be a stone or a serpent? 

Is this 'want' a stone or serpent?  Yes, because I'm coveting...and coveting is a sin. Some might be quick to say, "We are all human! Such wants are normal. Don't call it sin." Because we are sinful humans, the claim would be correct. Coveting is a normal action of a sinful human. When we let those actions take over and control our lives the issue becomes bigger and eventually a stone or a serpent. 

I needed to see this. I was struggling with a coveting heart and to be honest, this 'want' was consuming who I was. The Lord knew it. Think me silly, but I was literally chased into reading my Bible. This 'want' was so big that I felt the only One who would help or really answer this request was the Lord. And He directed me to Himself. His character. His goodness. His mercy in holding back something that would satisfy my heart of covetousness. And once I realized, that if He said 'no' again, it was because I was asking for a stone or serpent...it showed me His love. Showed me that He loved me and wouldn't give something that would possibly hurt me. He reminded me He gave me something greater and better. Eternal life. Not won by a giveaway or a random generator. But willfully by Him. 

As I stated before, nothing wrong with wanting a camera. It's letting the want to control our mindset and being consumed by it.

Knowing this is a better reward than winning the giveaway. I didn't win...but I did get a good gift from the Lord. 

It was seeing Him.