Comfort in the Lord

On my lunch break today, I read a daily devotion by Oswald Chambers. It was called "The Worship of the Work." It spoke to me right in the place where I'm at. I know the Lord is trying to break through this stagnant heart of mine. The devotional says this:

"Beware of any work for God which enables you to evade concentration on Him. A great many Christian workers worship their work. The one concern of a worker should be concentration on God, and this will mean that all the other margins of life, mental, moral and spiritual, are free with the freedom of a child, a worshipping child, not a wayward child. A worker without this solemn dominant note of concentration on God is apt to get his work on his neck; there is no margin of body, mind or spirit free, consequently he becomes spent out and crushed. There is no freedom, no delight in life; nerves, mind, and heart are so crushingly burdened that God's blessing cannot rest. But the other side is just at true - when once the concentration is on God, all the margins of life are free and under the dominance of God alone. There is no responsibility on you for the work; the only responsibility you have is to keep in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom after sanctification is the freedom of a child, the things that used to keep the life pinned down are gone. But be careful to remember that you are freed for one thing only - to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker. We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconcieved notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever he puts us our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

When Chambers expresses how burdened our lives get and how that causes no freedom, blessing or rest explains how I have felt lately. My mind and heart are saturated with worries, comparisons and unfaithfulness. I know the common analogy about how each of us was born with a "God-shaped hole" in our hearts and how only the Lord can fill it. I was thinking about how I feel like I'm still living with a hole and I haven't allowed God to completely fill mine. I desire to move past these spiritual battles that have fought in my soul for so long. I want these words to be true in my life: "I'm satisfied in you alone."