Devo

I’ve been listening to the song "I Shall Not Want" by Audrey Assad for a few days now, and I think it’s very applicable to the sin nature we struggle it and the help we can seek from God. I’ll do an analysis of each stanza and end of with the chorus.

Stanza One

From the love of my own comfort

From the fear of having nothing

From a life of worldly passions

Deliver me O God

This stanza focuses on our attachment to the world, which takes our devotion away from God. We have to believe that ‘if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him’ (1 John 2:15-17). Because the world is fallen and sinful in juxtaposition to our flawless and innocent God, if we put the World on a pedestal there is no room for God.

Often, God revolves around our lives instead of our lives revolving around God. We see life as our primary priority and God as a secondary consideration. In reality, this is as foolish as a new born baby crawling away from its mother on its own search of milk. We fail to realise God is our ultimate source of comfort, completeness and love that really fulfils and soothes. (Matthew 11:28-30 reminds us that God will give the ‘heavy laden…rest for your souls. For [His] yoke is easy, and [His] burden is light’)

At first, it might not seem as if we are receiving God’s perfect peace when we turn our backs to the world and our eyes to God. It’s sort of like light pollution: when you look at a starry sky from an artificially illuminated city, the sky will seem like a blank canvas. But when you leave behind the light pollution of regular civilisation, suddenly the heavens will blaze with a million million pin pricks of light. Likewise, we have been so used to viewing comfort from the ‘light polluted’ viewpoint of the world, that we may be blind to the majesty of God’s comfort and provision for us. As we familiarise ourselves with God’s word and move away from worldly standards, we’ll begin to catch glimpses of this perfect comfort and provision. This is why 2 Corinthians 6 may seem paradoxical. Paul lists a series of oxymorons that we will be as we endure hardship for God. We will be ‘as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things’. He calls into contrast the chasm between earthly and heavenly standards of comfort and provision. While we may lack earthly happiness and possessions, we have a much better alternative: heavenly treasures! (Matthew 6)

With this knowledge, we should trust God to meet our needs and to provide an inheritance of abundance in the life to come. 

Other Verses about relinquishing the material

Matthew 16:26

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1 Timothy 6:7

For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

Colossians 3:2

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Matthew 6:31-34

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Stanza Two

From the need to be understood

From the need to be accepted

From the fear of being lonely

Deliver me O God

This stanza talks about weathering the resistance and opposition we face from the world as we seek to break free of its chains. We can find solace in Jesus knowing that he went through the same kind of persecution that we face (same in intent, that is). Our God is not cold, impersonal and aloof, he is empathetic, compassionate and encouraging. He tells us to hang in there when you feel like the world is closing in around you in John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." This basically means that Christ went through all the isolation, ostracism and persecution that we have or will face in the course of Christian life. But within that admission itself, he offers a strand of hope-we are persecuted because we now belong to a better family, the household of God. And there we will find love enough to cover all the hurt from persecution.

God also promises to strengthen us against persecution. In 2 Timothy 4:16-17 it is said “At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me... But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength...And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” God is the best friend you could have in tough times. He promises to never leave or forsake you, and offers you the comfort of his word and his boundless love when you feel unloved by the world.

Although we may not be understood, accepted or popular with those around us, we have a God to carry us through every valley and every storm, as he reassures us that we are not alone in our pain.

Stanza Three

From the fear of serving others

From the fear of death or trial

From the fear of humility

Deliver me O God

This Stanza reflects our discomfort with losing ourselves to God, in our selfish desire to be King of our lives, our bodies and our pride. Letting go of the fear of losing ourselves begins with recognizing that our lives are not our own. 1 Peter 4:10 reminds us that 'As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace'. It is important to notice that every single one of us has received a certain gift, and this gift is given through Grace. None of us deserved it, and therefore none of us can justify with holding it. If we are given gifts, and if we aspire to achieve Christ likeness and imitate his selflessness, we should also give of ourselves.

God has commanded us to serve others with a humble spirit - to 'love thy neighbor as thyself'. Love is a verb. It is action oriented: not so much a feeling but it’s what you do and what we are to do is to serve others and do this serving in love, not grudgingly or expecting anything in return. If someone told you over and over that they were madly in love with you, but all they did was ignore your phone calls and forget your birthday, would you believe them? Of course not! Love necessarily results in service and action. If we love as Christ loved us, we would serve others.

Jesus gives us a perfect example of how to serve others in John 13:12-14 "When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." If the one who witnessed the creation of the earth, could stoop to wipe the dust from our unworthy feet, we should be able to serve everyone around us with the humility and care he demonstrated so perfectly. Humility is looking at ourselves as God sees us-we are so unworthy but he still loves us...how can we not be humbled by such agape love? And how else can we demonstrate it but by giving the best of ourselves into the service of a god and others?

God also shows us how the impending joy and hope of heaven triumphs over our fear of death and trial. John Donne expresses the futility of fearing death in his Poem 'death be not proud', which says 'One short sleep past, we wake eternally/And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.' As we learnt in youth camp, suffering is just a light momentary affliction, and we have waiting for us an eternal weight of glory that will mean an eternity of joy! Why fear death and trial when they are just doorways to a new and better life? We cling on to these promises because of Gods great love (Romans 8:38-39) and power over death and trial (John 16:33)

Other Verses about living for God and not fearing death/trial:

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (Jesus speaking)

Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

  

Chorus

And I shall not want, I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want

  

Psalm 23 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.'

With all these great blessings God has given to us, how can we ask for more? We learn to value his goodness over earthly standards of goodness, we learn to cling to his love rather than crave earthly acceptance, and we learn to give of ourselves as he did.