Day 21: During Deployment “Love is Satisfied in God”

The LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places. — Isaiah 58:11

Chapter 21 in The Love Dare doesn’t let us stop with the salvation message—it keeps us going. That’s a good thing, because there is still much to cover. As the authors say, “. . . now is the time for you to firm up one thing in your mind: you need God every single day. This is not a part-time proposition (or just on Sundays). He alone can satisfy, even when all else fails you.” (p. 101)

Has your husband ever disappointed you? Has your wife ever let you down? The truth is that they will never ever be able to satisfy all of your expectations or the demands you ask of them. Why? Some of your expectations or demands are perhaps unreasonable . . . . but bottom line—your spouse is human. Humans fail—all of us. But God never fails.

Your needs for peace, significance, joy and love are all valid—but only God can satisfy them. “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). The world may try to get us to look to its ways to meet our needs—through a good job, good health, wealth and beauty. But all of these are subject to change. God never changes, and His faithfulness, His truth, and His promises to those who are His children are what we must look at to fill whatever emptiness we may experience.

Oswald Chambers was a Bible scholar and teacher—and then a chaplain in World War I. His messages, including those he delivered to the soldiers stationed in Egypt, have been shared with the world because of the skill and faithfulness of his wife, whom he called Biddy. A stenographer by training, she faithfully recorded her husband’s talks. After his death in 1917 she was able to publish his works for all the world to study. Probably the most well-known of the collection is My Utmost for His Highest. But the first book published was entitled A Place of Help, which contains a message entitled “The Discipline of Disillusionment.” I believe in this message Oswald Chambers captures exactly what the Kendricks are wanting us to understand in today’s dare: “Most of the suffering in human life comes because we refuse to be disillusioned. For instance, if I love a human being, and do not love God, I demand of that man or woman an infinite satisfaction which they cannot give. I demand of them every perfection and every rectitude, and when I do not get it, I become cruel and vindictive and jealous. Think of the average married life after, say, five or ten years; too often it sinks down into the most commonplace drudgery. The reason is that the husband and wife have not known God rightly, they have not gone through the transfiguration of love, nor entered through the discipline of disillusionment into satisfaction in God, and consequently they have begun to endure one another instead of having one another for enjoyment in God. The human heart must have satisfaction, but there is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Chambers, p. 1000)

Here is today’s dare during deployment: Carve out time in your day to spend in prayer and Bible reading. You may need to pray for God to help make that happen as schedules are so demanding. Try a deliberate reading schedule, like a chapter in the Gospels a day, or a chapter from Proverbs each day (there are 31 chapters in Proverbs, like taking a “one-a-day” vitamin). The more you read about Him, the more you will know Him and trust Him.

Here are Scriptures to encourage you in truth:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:6,7

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. — Philippians 4:12,13

Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. — Psalm 37:4

Works cited:

Chambers, Oswald, The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers (Grand Rapids: Discovery House Publishers, 2000).

Kendrick, Stephen and Alex, The Love Dare (Nashville: B & H Publishing, 2008).