5.28.14

2 Samuel 13:15 Then suddenly Ammon's love turned to hate, and he hatted her even more than he loved her. "Get out of here!" he snarled at her.

My Thoughts

Ammon was so consumed with wanting Tamar that he was able to be talked into taking her by force. After she begged him to marry her so that she would not be dishonored. But his sin caused him to hate himself so much he couldn't love Tamar, even though he had loved her very much. 

How often do we do things we know we shouldn't to have something we want?  You can read this and think, "No worries here, I would never do what Ammon did!" But in truth we do it all the time in smaller ways. We do it when we don't wait on God's timing in our lives. 

One example I can thin of is when we go shopping for something we can't really afford yet. So we put our purchase on a credit card so we can have it now!  After all, we can pay the bill on the credit card. What is the big deal? The purchase feels really good, until we get home. Then the joy of having that pretty thing has vanished into thin air. There is a gnawing at out tummy that makes us wonder why. Even a month later when the bill comes in there is that feeling. When if we had just waited until we had the money, the purchase could have felt like a gift, a gift that God gave us because He loves us so.

See that is Satan telling us, "Buy this you deserve it! I know you don't have the money, but you want it!" Then Satan turns right around and uses what he tells us to do, against us. That is only one example..there art millions, one for every person. The I should clean the house but I won't, not yet. The I know I shouldn't watch "this" movie but I will. If there is guilt after we have done something it is something Satan talked us into! If there is joy after, it is something God asked us to do, or something that God is giving us. 

When we get ahead of God, we are saying to Him, "You don't do enough for me, I will take this into my own hands." All that does is give Satan power over us, and Satan uses that power to destroy us. It cause Ammon to hate the person he loved. 

Oh what joy we rob ourselves of by not waiting on God!  When we wait on God, He so often gives us much more than we get for ourselves.  That $80 dress that we "had to have"  could cost us at least triple if we can't pay it off and we can't pay it off, so we make the minimum payment. Along with the guilt we feel. If we just waited on God to tell us we could have it, we could have had three dresses. 

We get in such a big hurry to have, that we take away all the joy in having. And in that loss of joy we go after even more searching for joy. When waiting on God would give us joy in what we have already, and joy in what He gives us in His timing.