Trusting and Recognition

A desire for recognition is a wound..  A sense of not being fulfilled can be a symptom.  Wanting recognition can be very subtle, and the struggle intense.  Nothing you seem to do satisfies because, surely, there must be more.  Psalm 51:12-13: Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.  This is a wonderful text, and this morning I see something in it I have never thought of before!  We have a way of being so self-centered that we cannot actually see in Scripture that it is all about Him and the wonderful truths and opportunities He is offering.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.  In so much of our journey, a desire for recognition is a driving force of doing it ourselves.  Salvation means freedom and peace and rest.  It is about being free from all man-centered works orientations.  God’s salvation includes all our attempts to get recognition.  In so many ways, we have made His temple (ourselves) a den a thieves.  We recycle sacrifices and buy and sell the Gift of God.  We are left empty.  The desire for recognition is keener.

Uphold me by Your generous Spirit.  He has a generous Spirit.  A desire for recognition comes from a sense of poverty.  He is not in that.  He has a generous Spirit and He wants to share that with us.  This desire for recognition is a type of idolatry.  We want to be seen, affirmed, respected, etc.  We want others to see US.  This is the human condition because we do not feel that we are enough just as we are.  This lie about our identity in Christ is a harsh taskmaster.  It drives us to do and to be out there searching for all those ways of getting recognition.  It is very subtle. 

Then will I teach transgressors Your ways.  Is this not amazing?  When the joy of His salvation is restored to us, we get it that it is not about us.  When we know that it is about Him, we have a gift that we can give others.  We can teach transgressors (those who are just as lost as we are and dying to be recognized like we are) a different way.  We can model and talk the truth of it being His work.  It is about recognition and embracing something already done and given to us as a gift.  We can walk in peace and joy and rest.  We know that we have everything, and the greatest thing is to have Him recognized in us.

And sinners shall be converted to You.  Sinners are those who are out of relationship…that is all of us.  We cannot teach anyone anything that we have not learned yet.   We cannot take someone where we have not been.  This is all experiential.  God is inviting us to enter into His process so that the desires of our hearts can be met in Him as we teach others this wonderful freedom of the joy of His salvation—peace, joy, and rest.  This goes to the very core of trusting in Someone else.  If you will live, you must die.  This trusting issue goes by the way of the cross.  He has already been there, and we can trust Him to walk that road with us.  Praise God!