Dear John

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Maybe sometimes we think that if we obey, we will get what we want. Like a child who wants a cookie, we adapt our behavior for selfish ulterior motives so we “butter up” our mother or father so we can get that which we crave. We all do it and I think we have all done it with our relationship with God. If I do what He asks he will give us that spouse, job, home, or anything else that our heart thinks that it craves.

C.S. Lewis writes, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

Simply put, we continually chase after the creation, forgetting that our only source of joy and hope is found in the Creator. I believe what Psalm 37:4 is telling us is that when we “Delight” in God, we search His Word. We plead to Him in prayer. We get to know His character. His heart. When we learn, we then practice and obey it. We become filled with the Holy Spirit. When this happens, it greatly influences our desires. The things of the world “grow strangely dim.” They aren’t as important as they used to be, and we start to care more about what God cares about—being light in the darkness. Taking the Gospel across the world or across the street to our neighbor. When we delight in and truly love God, He gives us our desires because when we delight and love God, He changes our desires.

I want to be so in love with Jesus that I want what He wants more than anything else in the world.

Adoniram Judson was a missionary to Burma in the 1800s. He was an incredibly gifted man who deeply loved Jesus Christ. I highly recommend learning about who he was and everything he did. It is simply incredible. He had an “intense” and burning desire to go overseas and reach the people of Burma with the gospel. And did he ever. God used him in such powerful ways that lives today are still being impacted by Judson’s service.

But the greatest thing I wanted to share with you about his life was a letter he wrote to his future father-in-law, Mr. John Hasseltine.

Adoniram met Ann Hasseltine and, after a month of knowing her, fell in love and desired a future with her long term. Knowing that God had called him into missions, Judson wanted to be very clear of the risks that would be taken if Ann and himself continued seeing each other. Judson then wrote a letter asking for Ann’s hand in marriage to her father, John Hasseltine.

Judson wrote:

“I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall resound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?”

What happened? John allowed his daughter to make her own decision and they got married. The nice Hollywood ending would be they lived happily ever after, but it was not the case. Judson’s letter was almost prophetic as Ann suffered greatly and died 14 years after they were married, never to see her father or family again on earth.

Judson was devastated and almost lost all hope. It was only by the grace of God and his deep “delighting” in Christ that he was able to press on in his very real hurt. As it turns out, there are today around 2.5 million evangelical Christians in Burma because a broken man found strength and security in the promises of God. I cannot imagine the moment when Judson saw his wife Ann again after passing heaven’s gates “in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness” on her head.

But even all the more, the Saviour for which he “delighted” and found his strength in the midst of GREAT pain and hurt. In that moment, Judson crossed the finish line, and every ounce of pain, heartache, and struggle was worth it because he, like the saints who have gone before, was home.

My Prayer:

Dear God, I don’t want to live a safe comfortable life seeking all the worthless things that will never satisfy nor fill my heart. God, I want to love you more. I want you to be my great delight and hope. I want to be used. I want to cross the finish line with nothing left to give. I ask for grace, strength, and wisdom to press on in the darkest nights. Thank you so much for Jesus and what He did for us on that cross. Thank you for Adoniram Judson and the courage you gave him to make an incredible impact. Please raise up a generation of youth who want nothing more than to delight and fall in love with You and that You would influence and change our desires for the things of God. Help us to seek spouses who love God and obey the Great Commission. Who would go anywhere for Your kingdom’s advancement. Bless them with children, and may they teach their children the ways of You, the one true King. May our heart’s prayer be ...

Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 6:33