Strong cravings—we all have them. The single who longs for marriage, the wife who longs for a baby, the terminated employee who longs for new work. Many of the things we crave are good things, and, therefore, our desire for them is also good. But when we focus almost exclusively on our desires and unmet needs, what is good becomes bad. It becomes obsessive. It becomes a craving, and we aren't content to live without the thing we want or need.

Unmet cravings can make us baffled about God. After all, why does he even allow us to experience such intense desire only to leave us unfulfilled? Why would a good God do that? There are many reasons why God does that, all of them for our benefit. Not only does he strengthen us through the process, but he also teaches us to depend solely on him and to enjoy what he provides. He may provide for the single woman by giving her friends, fellowship, and meaningful work. He provides for the childless woman by giving her opportunities to mother in other ways; and he provides, often miraculously, ways for the unemployed to meet her expenses. Whatever we long for yet lack is an area in which God will reveal himself to be adequate for us.

Since that is true, the source of our misery is not that we lack the thing we long for; our misery comes from wanting that thing so much that we are not open to recognizing or receiving any alternative. Peace comes as we wait on God's timetable and trust that what he provides in the midst of our lack is really all we need unless or until he provides something else.

Obsessing on something we want skews our perspective, not only on the present but also on the past. This is what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness: "Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at" (Num. 11:4-6). The Israelites remembered the fish they had eaten in Egypt "that cost nothing," but in reality it had cost them everything. They had been slaves in Egypt when they ate that fish, slaves who were horribly treated.

I saw the same outlook recently in a struggling wife: "Maybe I should have been more open to Tom," she reflected, when her marriage failed to turn out as she had hoped. "After all, he had great earning potential." But she is forgetting that she stopped considering Tom as a marriage partner because he was lacking in fervor for Christ. Single or married, rich or poor, focusing on what we do not have warps our memory.

Obsessing on an unmet desire also takes away our joy and delight in all that God has provided for us today. The Israelites had manna in abundance—tasty food that simply fell from the sky. Yet their enjoyment of it was completely lost. If we focus our thoughts on looking only at what we hope tomorrow will bring, we will miss all the pleasure of today. Life is made up of "todays," not tomorrows. What do we have today? Whatever it may be—a good friend, a hug, a fresh-baked bagel, sunshine, a place to call home—can bring us joy because it is God's gift for our enjoyment. Taking joy in the little things is contentment

Labels: godly character