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Topic: Desire (01/17/05)
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TITLE: I WANT TO GO HOME | Previous Challenge Entry
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01/21/05 -
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How many times as a young sailor did I think those words! Even in the best of times, I yearned for more familiar territory. I tired of shipboard life. I loathed regimentation and orders. My utmost desire was to be elsewhere. I was homesick. Yes and immature.
As I grew in my naval career, I began to see my worth as, first an apprentice, then as a petty officer. When I made Chief Petty Officer, I shed tears during the initiation ceremony. After all the hazing, I was so thankful to feel my anchors being pinned to my collars. Everything had changed in my world. So had my desires. I had found worth in my life and knew I could make a lasting contribution. Through all of the toil and competition, I had won my chief’s cap!
Later, at my commissioning ceremony, I was again thankful that the Lord would count me as being valuable. I had exceeded all of my goals. I tested the waters in God’s will and He smiled upon this desire. I simply wished to be of more service. I was now a Commissioned Warrant Officer.
While at my last duty station, that of Repair Officer, United States Naval Station, Republic of the Philippines, I again saw a change in my desires. I was burdened to serve Him still, but possibly as a civilian.
My prayer was, “Lord, if you wish me to retire, prevent me from being promoted.” I soon found myself petitioning for retirement and soon my family and I were bound for home. My desires had changed again.
God often gives us our desires, simply to teach a lesson in maturity. Now, I wish I had stayed a few more years. Possibly, I could have gone farther…
Be careful what you desire. What you think is best, may well be second best in God’s eyes. Yes, He often gives us the desires of our hearts. However, He doesn’t guarantee that those desires are in complete accord with His.
In Hebrews 13:5, Paul said, “Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (KJV). In another passage, he said that contentment with godliness is great gain.
May the Lord help us to temper even the best of our desires with true rest in Him.
Dr. Don Stevenson
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