MUFHH!
A friend recently sent me a link to a devotional i like to call MUFHH because most of the things Oswald has to say make me want to tantrum or sometimes sneeze. The devotional was motivational, but the reading from the day before struck me to the core. The back story is this- when David and his mighty men were in hiding, he complained of thirst. His men, out of love, risked their lives to sneak into enemy territory in order to get him water. When they returned, he realized how his desires risked their lives and so he refused to drink and "poured it out to the LORD". The challenge is this:
'What has been like "water from the well of Bethlehem" to you recently— love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing ( 2 Samuel 23:16 )? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out "to the Lord." You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God— something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.'