Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Dealing with Desire | The Writings | Psalm 42

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

Desire is a natural part of life. How do you react to desire? What is the biblical way to deal with desire? Should Christians stuff desire down or let desire lead them? In today's episode, Patrick shares from Psalm 42 the purpose of desire. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 42

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. How do you view desire? In many Eastern religions, desire is viewed with suspicion. It's something we should seek to shed, leave behind. The ideal is a life in which we no longer feel longings, no longer feel desire, and instead are simply at peace with ourselves and the reality around us.

And the modern West, desire is seen rather differently. We see it as an innate good. The popular self-help guru Glennon Doyle tells her readers to seize their desire. She says that we should follow Eve. If you want the fruit, take it. Perhaps, most importantly, we see our desires as innate, especially what we desire sexually for some reason. It's seen as a fundamental part of who we are and how we can actually be happy in the world. So who is right? Who's wrong? Do Eastern cultures have the measure of things? Is desire a problem to be resisted? Or do Western cultures have it right? Is desire a map to be followed? Depending on your background, you might think that the Bible fits into one or the other category. If you grew up in a more

rigid, religious household, perhaps desire was eyed with suspicion, much as it is in the East. or if you grew up with a more permissive household, perhaps desire was seen as a normal thing to follow without question like in the West. What's interesting is that the Bible rejects both options. Psalm 42 is all about desire, and it shows us a different way to think about our desires, to direct our desires, to live as creatures with desire. It opens up this way, Psalm 42-1. As the dear pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

So straight out of the gate, the psalm is telling us that at least one desire is good, a desire to know God and to be with God. Now for the psalmist, this isn't just an ordinary desire. It's a fundamental desire that's fundamental to his being. It's so fundamental and needful that he describes. describes it as thirst. You need to drink and I need to be in God's presence. The problem with the Eastern perspective that we need to resist desire and shed desire is that leaving our desire behind isn't just impossible. It's a bad thing. Sometimes our desires are good things. In the human brain,

our desires are often triggered by a chemical called dopamine. And it's released when we anticipate or experience something that we enjoy. It's a happiness chemical. When you want more dopamine, your body experiences a craving that drives you to another dopamine-releasing substance or behavior. One researcher turned off the dopamine receptors in mice, and do you know what happened?

They stopped craving. They ceased desire. They achieved the Eastern ideal, no more desire. Do you know what else happened? They starved to death. It turns out that our desires are there for a good reason. They drive us to act. To live without desire. Truly is to live without any craving, any longing, any directionality or purpose. So when the psalmist describes his desire for God as thirst, he's saying that God is the deepest craving in his life.

That's the craving that is driving his action, driving his sense of purpose. his desire for God is not something to be shed and left behind, but desire isn't always a good thing. What happens when we desire sex with someone that we aren't married to? What happens when we desire more and more money? What happens when we desire more and more stuff? Well, those desires, those cravings also have the power to direct our actions and our behaviors in the wrong direction. This is why the Western approach to desire is a problem. Your desires are developed. They're not just innate. And so everything you desire isn't always good.

Like the Eastern wise men tell us, some desires must be resisted. This isn't the only way that the Bible is different when it comes to desire. It also trains us to respond to unmet desires in different ways. You see, in the East, we're told to respond to unmet desires with detachment. To simply stop desiring the thing you can't get and then you'll be okay. But in the West, we're told to respond to unmet desires by working hard. Some people say you need to manifest what you want with your mind. Others say you need to work for it, to labor for it.

But the one thing you should never do is accept your unmet desire. No, you need to meet that desire. As the psalmist goes on, it's clear that he is dealing with some unmet desires. And as a result, he's downcast. Verse 5. Why, my soul, are you downcast? why so disturbed within me? We don't know the reason why entirely,

and he doesn't really seem to know the reason either. But that's the strange thing about desire. Researchers have found that when you crave dopamine but don't get it, you actually experience mental anguish, stress, irritability, depression. And perhaps that's why the East says to ignore your desires. And perhaps that's why the West says, don't give up. You don't want to feel sad and irritable forever. go get the thing that you want.

But again, the Bible takes a different approach. As the psalmist shows us, right here, we can lament and mourn our unmet desires. Unlike Eastern people, we don't just stuff the pain, we don't just deny it. We actually acknowledge, yes, I have desires and they are unmet. But unlike the West, the Bible doesn't say, now go work hard for it, go manifest it. Instead, the Bible says, redirect your unmet desires towards the one who can meet them. Look what the psalmist does in verse five. Put your hope in God.

You have all these unmet desires? Me too. But what's the next step? Will we mourn it? We say, my soul is downcast in me. We don't deny it. But then, do we go chasing after it? No, he says, but put your hope in God.

For I will yet praise him. My Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me. Therefore, I will remember you. We may not receive even the good things that we desire. Maybe you desire a spouse. but you aren't married or a close friend but you don't have any or a child and you can't have any or a home and you don't live in one. And God doesn't say stuff it. God doesn't say don't mourn that.

That's not a problem. Just get over it. No, he says, that's hard. That is painful. I will mourn alongside you. As your soul downcast, I will be downcast in the muck and mire right with you. But God will tell you, I won't just mourn. I will also give myself to you. And in myself, I will satisfy your desire. You see, God is a better spouse than the spouse we want. He's a better friend than the friend. He's a better home than the home we want. He gives us more spiritual children than we could ever have physically.

God doesn't want you to be afraid of your desire or to be controlled by your desire. He wants you to direct your desire toward him and allow him to shape the direction of your craving, the direction of your purpose, the direction of your life.