Have you ever been given the well meaning, meant to be encouraging advice that God will give you the desires of your heart? I have. Being an encourager myself, I am sure I’ve even said it.
Unfortunately, I discovered a long time ago that much of the time this portion of scripture is taken completely out of context.
Let’s think about this out of context for a second. If God gave us all the desires our hearts then we’d have everything we wanted, even when it’s not necessarily the best for us. And, we ultimately would not need God if all we wanted in our flesh was ours to be had.
As an exercise, let’s take a look back into our past and think of something that we once wanted so desperately.
Got it?
I’m thinking of a man that I once loved and wanted to marry. I was in my early 20’s and was not yet a Christian. I thought I loved Scott, but it was a bad relationship; he did not easily return my feelings. He cared about me, endured me, he gave me the least of him, he used me if you really want to know the truth and he didn’t love me. However, despite all of that if he would have asked me to marry him, I would have sadly said yes. At that time of my life I had the wrong idea of what it meant to love someone and obviously I had no idea what it was to truly be loved.
Can you imagine what my life would have been like had I been given the desires of my heart for that relationship?
Can you imagine what your life would have been like if God had given you the desires of your
heart for what you wanted so desperately back then?
My point is that sometimes the desires of our heart are based on wrong thinking or emotions which can be deceiving and they can ultimately lead us down the wrong path. Remember, what Jeremiah 29:7 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”
Now, let’s look at Psalm 34: 7 says in full context… “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” In Strongs the word delight also means to be delicate or soft, to be glad in. That means to be delicate or soft towards God and to be glad in Him only. So, if we are soft towards God’s ways and glad in Him at all times then our desires will be His desires which He will faithfully give to us.
I like what Beth Moore from Living Proof Ministries says...
“Anyone who truly delights in the Lord will one day realize that God has become the desire of her heart. When He is our delight, we begin to want what He wants. We come to trust His best for us. When we struggle with self-seeking desires, we hit our knees in prayer. We become wise enough to ask Him to overrule any desire that would ultimately betray us. We no longer want anything that lacks His approval.”
When I think of Psalm 37:4 I like to also remember Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
So, today I’m going to delight myself in the Lord and expect the desires of my heart to be met.
Join me?
Father, we know if our hearts are softened towards your ways then the desires of our hearts will be your desires and you will be faithful to deliver. Thank you that you see the whole picture of our lives and that you have it perfectly planned out. Help us to not be led by our feelings and emotions especially when they are not lined up with your Holy word. Give us wisdom in your Word, patience to wait for your leading and courage to say no to what is not of you.
No comments:
Post a Comment