Desiring God

I'm reading the book, Desiring God, by John Piper for, well, the second attempt. I've started it before, but never actually finished it (although, based on all the underlines that I keep finding, I got farther than I thought I had). I got to a part last night when John was talking about worship and how it is an end in itself. We don't worship to accomplish anything more, but worship. And then he said, "Happiness in God is the end of all our seeking." Which got me thinking.

Everybody wants things, right? Everybody has desires and aspirations, but do those desires come before, or after God? If our chief end was to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever, would He fulfill all those desires as well?

For example, there's a job opening at the place you work, it's a higher pay grade and comes with more responsibility. You want the job. If, however, you were truly seeking God and you were, to use John Piper's term, a Christian Hedonist, would the desire for the promotion be as strong? Or, would the desire for God outweigh the desire you have for this new job?

I'm not saying that all of a sudden, with this new happiness in God, you don't want things, you don't desire anything, but do those 'worldly' desires sort of become less powerful?

I was struck last night as I read this. There are two things that I want, that I've wanted for a long time and, honestly, can't imagine my life having actually attained them, or not wanting them anymore. But, what if I took all the energy that I put into wanting this two things and directed it towards seeking and desiring God? Would He be able to satisfy even those longings? It's not really a new concept for me, but it did smack me in the face last night.

In the end, generally, we want things that will make us happy. Life is basically a pursuit of happiness. So what if we took that pursuit and focused it all on God? What if we stopped looking at the things of the world and looked only towards the One who can fulfill every desire? Wouldn't happiness be in abundance then?