The Torment of Want

CONFESSION:
Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!  

“While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck them with a very severe plague.” - Numbers 11:33 AMP

Father this verse touches at my core.  The children of Israel were in the desert and unhappy with their circumstances.  So, they prayed and asked You for something besides manna to eat.  You sent quail as meat.  Instead of gratefulness, while the meat was still between their teeth they grumbled to You.  Your goodness to provide was met with whining, grumbling and ungrateful spirits.  Your response was that You sent a great plague.  Father, how many plagues in my life are of my own doing?  How much of the disaster and discord in our country and world are the just rewards of ungrateful and rebellious hearts, ravenous unrestrained flesh and indulgence in sin?  Father, forgive us for our grumbling.  Purify our hearts that we would live godly and grateful lives and be spared from the pain of discipline.

Father, he said, “God bless you more.”  Today, a man who lives in poverty looked upon me and all that I have been blessed with, and He asked You to bless me - more.  “God bless you more.”  I sit here in my chair dumbfounded, humbled and shocked at such a precious heart that would ask for a blessing on one already so greatly blessed.  Great sobs emanate from my chest as hot tears sting my flushed cheeks.  I see the little that he has, yet he asked me for nothing.  He came to You and asked You to bless me with more.

Father, I am broken-hearted over the callousness of my heart.  I pray for others, but still in the distance I see the pernicious tendrils of ungratefulness, greed and want (Luke 12:15) that threaten my peace, steal my joy and breed discontentment.  Father, I repent of the ungratefulness and dissatisfaction that are never fully satiated, always grumbling and that grow stronger each time they are coddled and fed.   Show us the secret of being content in any situation (Phil 4:12-13).

Father, I lift my friend before You.  I ask for a removal of any scales from their eyes that prevent them from seeing the enormity of their blessings.  May the only dissatisfaction allowed to persist be that of longing for more of You (Heb 13:5).  May their hunger for worldly things be replaced with a hunger for righteousness (Matt 5:6).  May they taste and see Your goodness and pursue You (Ps 34:8).  Heal their brokenness and deliver them from the torment of want.  I pray for rest for their souls, peace for their mind and gratefulness for their heart.  I ask for wisdom and discernment to rightly divide true need from malicious manipulation.  May they be as wise as s serpent and as innocent as a dove (Matt 10:16).  Give them a heart for the hurting, the hungry and the lost and discernment for the loosening and tightening of purse strings so as to bless and not cause harm.  I pray their poverty of spirit would lead to generosity of heart.  In both their abundance and lack, may they look upon their life as so greatly blessed as to look upon others, in every station of life, with fullness of heart and say, “God bless you more.”  In Jesus Name ❤️

Dear friend, do you find yourself discontented or tormented by want?  There are industries designed to create discontentment and longing for things, in an attempt to drain your bank account.  Why not turn off the advertisements in your life and curtail your consumption of social media?  The focus of the eyes and ears becomes the longing of the heart.  Look upon Him.  💡


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