Desires of your heart

I was reading Psalm 37 and read over a familiar verse.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  (Psalm 37:4)

This got me to thinking about two things.

1. How do I delight myself in the Lord?

I think God desires me to totally trust him.  I am not to live in fear.  The more I trust God to care for me, the more I can ignore the stress of life and the hardships that come with daily living. I will have no need to fear bad news because I have trusted God with my life, my family, and my future.  (Easy to say, hard to live out …)

I’ve had to learn to trust God one problem at a time.  I was not able to just “jump” into trusting God with everything.  I am still learning to daily trust God with each detail of life.  I can’t just say I trust God when I see that I have no other options.  It should be my first choice. 

It is a moment by moment commitment of my life and my will to God.  I need to daily come to His feet and listen.  I need to get away from work and distractions and concentrate on the Word.  I need to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit.  In order to delight in the Lord, I need to do what pleases Him.  I need to know His Word so well that it is the first thing that comes to mind when faced with a challenge.

Think about it this way.  When I delight in something, my thoughts are constantly turning towards it.  I think of it early, often, and late.  It makes me smile to think of it.  It cheers me up when things aren’t going my way. 

“In your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Psalm 16:11)

2. What are the desires of my heart?

If I delight myself in the Lord, He will help me see my true desires.  When I think I know what I want in life, I present those ideas to the Lord.  I wait for an answer from Him.  I pray for peace as I move forward on an idea.  One important point is to keep seeking the Lord.  As I keep in the Word, God will reveal what the desires of my heart should be. 

God wants my greatest passion to be knowing Him and loving Him.  My relationship with Him should take precedence over everything else in my life.  He wants me to completely commit my life to Him so that my thoughts, goals, and lifestyles are shaped by His will and the things He loves.

The funny thing is, as I commit my life to Him, His desires become my desires.  Things I never thought I wanted, start to come up.  God reveals what my deepest desires are and they may be things that I’ve never even thought about.  My heart and my desires change to reflect what God’s desires for me already were.

 

Some other verses to consider:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:21)

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  (Matt 6:33)

“The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”  (Prov. 16:9)

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20)

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  (Romans 8:28)

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will”  (Romans 12:2)

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  (Phil. 2:13)

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. “ (Psalm 1:1-3)