Perspective In The Valley Sample

The Vendor

We’ve all experienced it before. You feel a pang of hunger. There’s a vending machine nearby. Drop some loose change into the slot and presto! Our hunger is temporarily filled.

Too often, this represents the extent of our relationship with God. We learned when we were children that He was around and could help us. We don’t need Him all the time, but we check in when there is some discomfort, make our request, and tap our feet impatiently as we wait for the prize to come out.

We misinterpret verses like the beautiful Psalm David wrote, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” God is not our Cosmic Vending Machine. He wants more for us. He truly wants to give us the desires of our heart because many of those desires are ones that He placed there. A lot of those desires are joint to the purpose He created us uniquely for. And truthfully, we want more for ourselves. 

I read once about how long we can actually go without food. The truth is most of us have never experienced real hunger. Our slightly unsatisfied tummies send a signal and we fill it immediately, like a wailing toddler who gets a treat. And now, that toddler is a full-grown man who has been conditioned to gripe and cry and wail until he gets what he wants.

The Lord wants us to feast. He wants us to eat what will truly fulfill us. He wants to give us meaning and purpose, belonging and love. We are demanding blessings without any real knowledge of The Blesser. We don’t really know The Vendor. He’s some invisible guy that stocks the machine, right?

What would it take for us to abandon this system? What would it look like for us to truly pursue God for who He is, not just for the blessings that come in His wake? What would it be like to be aware of our truest needs and The One who fulfills beyond what we can ask or imagine?

His word tells us that if we seek God with all of our heart, we will find Him. I encourage you to seek Him this week without thinking of what you can gain from Him. And yes, there’s so much you can gain from Him. There’s so much He wants for you. But seek Him to simply know Him more. To know His heart a little better. 

Please look for the 4th part of the plan, Yellow Balloons. In life, we all go through different seasons. Some are on the mountaintop, most in the plains and even in the valley. This series encourages us to choose a true and godly perspective during any season of our lives.

To get more from this plan, read the book Yellow Balloons by Tim Dunn. You can download it from http://www.yellowballoons.net/ in the Downloads area using the passcode: Grace