The Pleasure Principle

Posted on July 31, 2018 by America's Keswick in Victory Call

She who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives (1 Timothy 5:6) [but] in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11b).

I remember the first time the above verses leapt out at me during my morning Bible reading while I was doing a word search on “pleasure.” Such verses are like gems that jump out and sparkle in the right light: You see them for the first time even though you’ve seen them before. I marvel at the ministry of the Holy Spirit! His search light plumbs the depth of my heart’s need then carefully postures it to receive Father’s timely truth.

1 Corinthians 2:10 & 12-13 testifies to those rhemas as “things God has revealed to us by his Spirit [as] the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us…not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”

The Spirit illuminated those verses on pleasure for me during an extended season of lack and suffering. Did Father truly see me? Did he even care about me experiencing pleasure ever again? My head and heart were in a tug-of-war. Although a Genesis 3 temptation with Satan impugning God’s motives may be clearly discernable after the fact or to those outside the temptation- those in the throes of it tend to be blinded momentarily. I wanted the empty wells of TV, junk food and flesh-generated short-cuts; God wanted me to look to him- trusting his heart toward me that no good thing would he permanently withhold from me if I continued on his path of life (Psalm 16:11a; 84:11)..

Have you struggled with this? Are you there now? Pray and ask Father to reveal where you are with this issue. He wanted me to forsake those empty wells that threatened to distract me not just from the depth of my own need but from drawing from the reservoir of his bottomless grace and sustenance. He wants the same for you. He will meet us, but often only at our point of confessed need and only in the realm of reality and truth. And although the temporal pleasures that we all inevitably pursue will elusively and eventually evade us, God is waiting and longing to satisfy his weary, hungering child with his satiating presence and its by-product pleasure. That’s the pleasure principle.

Written by Melissa Smith: Melissa Smith is the Women’s ENRICH Counselor at America’s Keswick. She has the privilege and honor of ministering to the Colony men’s wives and girlfriends, the Barbara’s Place women, and community women who God brings to America’s Keswick for help or care. She and Bill, her husband of 20 years, have four grown, wonderful adopted children. Her fervent desire is to point women to Christ and His sufficiency, provision, and promises.

The Daily Bible Reading: Isaiah 54-58 |You can download our 2018 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

Think About This: “Worship is not an external activity precipitated by the right environment. To worship in spirit is to draw near to God with an undivided heart. We must come in full agreement without hiding anything or disregarding His will.” – Erwin Lutzer

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of the unjust perishes. Proverbs 11:7