Lysa TerKeurst - 40 Days Through the Bible: The Answers to Your Deepest Longings

Dear friend,

I remember the day I closed my eyes as tears fell, and I whispered, God, please either take this longing of my heart away or show me Your answer. I just dont think I can keep hoping for what no longer seems possible.

If youve ever prayed a similar prayer, I want you to know youre not alone. Unmet expectations and longings are tough on the human heart. Especially when what we keep praying for is a good thing... a reasonable request... something we see God blessing others with.

And its at this exact point of desperation that our lives can go in one of two directions. We can press into God and learn to trust Him more fully, or we can give in to the enemy and fall for temptations that will leave us even more empty. If he can get our attention with temptations that falsely promise to ease the ache of an unmet longing, then he can start to fool us with his deceptions. But remember, his ultimate goal isnt to comfort us... its to crush us with his accusations.

This is how he works. Tempt. Deceive. Accuse. He used this method on Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:6). He tried to use it on Jesus at the end of His 40-day fast in the desert (Matthew 4:111). And its the same method we are warned about near the end of the Bible in 1 John 2:1517:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the worldthe lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of lifecomes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

What
does this
look like
for us
today?

Gods not going to provide what I need. I need to take this into my own hands. I need to maintain control.

God wont give me what I desire. Im not satisfied with the things God has given me.

God wont give me what I deserve. Im going to grasp for it myself.

What our souls are truly longing for, though, is more of God. His best is the only source of true satisfaction. He is the only answer to our every desire. He holds all the answers to all our disappointments and will direct our desires in His way, in His will and in His timing. Hes got a good plan for good things.

Thats why it feels so imperative that we do this study together. For the next 40 days, well be feasting on the very thing Jesus used to defeat the enemy at the end of His 40 days of fastingthe Word of God. Eves dialogue with Satan allowed him to weave his tangled web of justifications. Jesus, on the other hand, shut Satan down with the truth of God.