Especially for the Unmarried
The Desires of Your Heart
By Miss Faith Ann S.
Aug 9, 2005 - 11:55:00 AM

Deborah Teat's recent article titled, "Thoughts on Singleness" really caught my eye, and encouraged me. The reasons being that I, too, am an unmarried young lady, and what she was saying has been very much on my heart lately. I am very thankful for the focus she placed on loving God for His sake alone, "because He first loved us"--not for something He will do for us in the future, i.e. marriage. Just thinking about my sins and the great price He paid for them, gives me enough reason to love Him, not to mention all the blessings and joys He adds to that!

"Oh love of GOD!
How rich and pure,
How measureless and strong.
It shall forevermore endure,
The saints and angels song."
~ F.M. Lehman

Desires of Our Hearts

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. ~ Psalm 37:4,5

Aren't those beautiful verses? Our Holy God will give us our heart's desires and bring our ways to pass, if we but delight, trust in, and commit ourselves to Him! Ah, but what a big "if" that is. Our foolish, sinful, fallen natures so want to have their own way that it is hard for us to even trust our lives to the loving hands of our heavenly Father.

Sometimes I'm afraid that we skip over those bits about delighting, trusting, and committing and expect GOD to give us our desires anyway. I know that I have many times been guilty of committing this grievous oversight. One day while discussing with my mother about God giving me the desires of my heart, she said, "Yes, but God might change your desires as you delight in Him." But of course! That simple but obviously important truth suddenly dawned on me! As we delight ourselves in the Lord, if we are doing it sincerely and with a pure heart, we should find ourselves being molded by the power of the Holy Spirit into His likeness. Our likes and dislikes--our desires--should also be changing to reflect those of our Lord, and so "our" desires will really be God's desires for us. We can be sure that they will be for our good, and that He will bring them to pass. God's ways and desires can be the only ultimately fulfilling way for us! We could never plan anything better.

For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD, "plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me, and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me, and find me, when you search for Me with all your heart. ~ Jer. 29:11-13

"Against Such There is no Law"

But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control. Against such there is so law. ~ Gal. 5:22,23

What wonderful, inspiring, yet also very intimidating verses those are! The perfect set of character qualities for marriage, right? Hmmm... are there really any character qualities that pertain exclusively to married life? I have been challenged to think about that lately, as I was looking at the "fruits of the Spirit" that I am lacking. Guess what I discovered? Each of those "fruits," each extension of love mentioned in the great love chapter (1 Cor. 13), all are as vital for my present life as an unmarried young lady living under my father's roof, as they would be for someone married or even widowed! The "fruits" that the Holy Spirit grows in us are right for every circumstance and situation in our lives. If I strive to instill these qualities in myself now, by God's grace, as a daughter, sister, friend and unmarried young lady, it will come more "naturally" as a wife and mother. As my mother has told me many times, "You don't lose all your bad habits and suddenly become perfect when you walk down the aisle!" Yes, we need to develop qualities that will be a blessing to our future husband, if the Lord so wills, but why focus on a distant, unseen person, when you have so many people around you to bless?

The phrase "against such there is no law" really intrigued me. Using my Father's E-sword program I looked up the Greek word for "law" in this verse and its original meanings. I found that it is also translated "limit" or "regulation." Isn't that neat!? We are never to limit these "fruits," or to regulate them. No law can bind them, and no situation is out of their blessed sphere!

Thoughts on "Singleness"

Around the young ladies' table at our after-service meal a couple Sundays ago, the topic up for discussion was "What are the biblical guidelines for an unmarried young woman to stay in her father's house until marriage?" or "Is it a sin to live out from under the protection of your father before marriage?" The conclusion we came to is the subject for another article, so I won't broach it here. During the course of discussion, though, a young lady stated, "You know, the term or word 'single' is not found in the Bible. There really isn't a time in our live when that status should biblically apply to us. We are either unmarried and in a family, married, or widowed." (I'm paraphrasing here, Amber:) Please understand that I am not condemning the use of the word "single" or those who use it. I myself have many times used it to describe my status as an unmarried woman. I am just suggesting that we take a closer look at the titles and examples for unmarried young ladies in the Bible and try to use those terms.

There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the LORD, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit...." ~ 1 Cor. 7:34a

May GOD's richest blessings be upon you dear ladies.

In the Love of Christ,
Miss Faith Ann S.

The Flower Picker by Waterhouse