What is the desire of your heart? God says He will give you the desires of your heart. Find out more about what God’s promises are for you in this devotional blog.
{my graphics are inspirational gifts for you}
Be delighted with the Lord then He will give you the desires of your heart.
~ Psalm 37:4
If I delight myself in the Lord He will give me the desires of my heart. What a beautiful promise! As you read it, what does this verse mean to you?
While this verse is a beautiful promise, taken out of context or misapplied to think that God is the means to an outcome that I want, it can lead to great disappointment. Taken within context, it can lead to ultimate fulfillment and incomparable joy.
What does it mean to delight ourselves in the Lord? The dictionary defines delight as, to be filled with joy, to find satisfaction in, to be thrilled with.
So if I am delighted in the Lord I am filled with joy! Which means also that I am fully satisfied. It means that I am thrilled with Him!
Are you filled with joy, fully satisfied, and thrilled with God? If not, why not? What has stolen joy, invoked dissatisfaction or intruded in experiencing an intimate relationship with the Lover of Your Soul?
God’s Word is filled with promises. As Creator, God gave us free will - the freedom to choose. The freedom to accept Him, lovingly enjoy a relationship with Him and live in the light of His presence. And the freedom to reject Him and live life outside of His presence.
As a loving, heavenly Father, He desires a relationship with His children. He gives us many promises in His Word. A quick online search listed multiple results stating that according to one account, there are 3573 promises in the Bible! Most of God’s promises are conditional, involving choices and motives, attitudes and actions on our part.
Conditional promises also invoke a relationship. If you ____ then I will _____.
We are given commands and consequences. Instructions and implications.
When we choose wisely, we receive the blessings of the promise.
When we choose foolishly, we receive the (undesirable) consequences of the promise.
Psalm 37:4-8, says,
Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.
In these verses, we are given seven postures of the heart, attitudes and actions, in order to receive the promises. Let’s look at them here.
1. Trust in the Lord (stated twice - verses 3 and 5)
2. Do good.
3. Take delight in the Lord.
4. Commit everything you do to the Lord.
5. Be still in the presence of the Lord.
6. Wait patiently for Him to act.
7. Don’t worry or fret (about evil people who prosper or their wicked schemes).
What are God’s promises in response?
1. Live safely in the land.
2. Prosper.
3. He will give you your heart’s desires.
4. He will help you.
5. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn.
6. He will make the justice of your cause shine like the noonday sun.
7. He will act – in His perfect time and way because God is sovereign and just.
As you choose to trust God instead of the cultural and world values.
As you choose to do good, and not harm or evil.
As you delight in God instead of despise, ignore, reject, or attempt to use God.
As you commit everything you do to God, instead of just some things, segregating what areas He is welcome in and what areas you will control.
As you choose to be still in the presence of God, with a trust and faith that allows for a calm and peaceful spirit.
As you wait patiently for Him to act, instead of taking matters into your own hands or forcing your own solutions or insisting on your own timing.
As you refrain from worry and fretting about people and circumstances you can’t control, especially those who do evil (and prosper!), and choose to trust and rest in Him with a joyful and thankful heart…
He will provide for you, bless you, give you your heart’s desires, and act on your behalf.
Do you see how intricately interwoven these promises are to our attitude toward and relationship with God?
Jennifer Kennedy Dean writes, “Initially, I responded to His call to delight in Him to ensure the fulfillment of His promise to give me the desires of my heart. I had no idea that He would give me a new heart. (Jeremiah 24:7). I didn’t know that He would begin working in me to reproduce His own heart. When I turned to Him, I found that He Himself is my very great reward. (Genesis 15:1). He is not, as I supposed, the means to my end. Instead He is the desire of my heart.”
{my graphics are inspirational gifts for you}
The beauty of this truth is that as we seek God and surrender to Him, He does give us a new heart. A heart that loves and desires Him above all else.
Isn’t that what Jesus said the greatest commandment was in Matthew 33:37-40?
“You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul [mind, will and emotions] and with all your strength. This is the greatest and most important mitzvah.”* (Deuteronomy 6:5) And the second is similar to it, you are to love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18) All of the Torah and the prophets are dependent upon these two mitzvot.”*
{*Mitzvah (Hebrew) literally, command. Mitzvot commands. More broadly: meaning general principal for living or good deed.}
David says in Psalm 40:8,
“Doing your will, my God is my joy! Your law is in my inmost being!”
I used to think of God’s will as being something undesirable or something that would bring me suffering. So I resisted His will - or what it might be - and was the director of my own life. (That script didn’t work so well.)
There is a common thought among Christians that if we surrender our will to God we’ll end up as poor missionaries in some country we never wanted to go to. While God does call some people to that, it is an inaccurate and narrow view of what God’s will is.
When we attempt to humanize God – to make Him fit our limited understanding and human view of the world – to put Him in a box in order to make Him fit our perception, we miss the reality and magnificence of who He is. We miss out on experiencing His measureless love and His extravagant grace. We miss out on His splendor, glory, majesty, power, and peace. We miss out on a relationship with a Heavenly Father who desires to be seen, known, and loved by you – and for you to reciprocally experience being seen, known, and loved unconditionally by Him.
God created you in love and He knows you completely. His love is perfect and so profound that His will is one which is only and always for your good. For your absolute best.
David says, “Doing your will is my joy!” (Psalm 40:8) If God’s will is to be your joy, then His Word must be inside of you!
“Your law is in my innermost being!” The Hebrew meaning for Law is “teaching and instruction.” God’s law, God’s Word, is His teaching and instruction for you. A love letter, a manual, a guide, on how best to live your life! It is the law of life and liberty!
So let’s put all this together … in order for you to take joy in doing God’s will, His teaching and instruction needs to be a part of you. When His Word is a part of you, your desires are transformed to His. Your desire is for Him. He IS the desire of your heart! And when the Lord is the desire of your heart, you will begin to pray for His will … for what He would desire for you!
I have learned, that the greatest satisfaction I can experience is in the presence of the Lord! I find satisfaction in His Word, in obeying His Word from a grateful heart, through spending time with Him in prayer, through praise and worship, through the beauty of His creation, and a myriad of other ways in which I feel His presence and His love! Joy is an outflow of the wellspring that resides within.
Finding satisfaction in God takes time and effort on my part … just as any relationship does. I have learned the painful lessons of insisting on my way. On my will. On my timing. On my desires. More suffering, heartache, loss and pain has come as a result of my own stubborn refusal to surrender and headstrong, foolish choices than God ever purposed - or would have allowed - than if I had sought His will and walked in trust and surrender.
{my graphics are inspirational gifts for you}
There is tremendous freedom in praying God’s will be done. Then trusting Him enough to let go … believing His will is better than anything I could ever ask for myself or think that I desired. God’s heart is for me. Friend, His heart is for you. What comes in place of fear when we fully trust God and surrender our will is freedom, peace, delight and joy.
I love the poems of Ruth Bell Graham, and recently came across this one … which I find appropriate to share with you here…
Lay them quietly at His feet
one by one:
each desire, however sweet,
just begun;
dreams still hazy, growing bright;
hope just poised, winged for flight;
all your longing – each delight –
every one.
At His feet and leave them there,
never fear;
every heartache, crushing care –
trembling tear;
you will find Him always true,
men may fail you, friends be few,
He will provide Himself to you
far more dear.
Ruth Bell Graham
Sitting By My Laughing Fire
“Whom have I in heaven but You?
And I have no delight or desire on earth beside You.” - Psalm 73:25
Oh, friend, may this be the delight and desire of your heart too! I pray that as you seek the Lord and find satisfaction in Him, that you would desire Him above all others, and anything that this world has to offer. And as you do so, you would find He fulfills every desire of your heart!
I would love to come alongside you in overcoming barriers to receiving God’s love and discovering His purpose for you. To learn more, schedule HERE for a no-obligation online Create a Life You Love Discovery Session.
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Editor's Note:
This blog is by Jen Stone-Sexton, Author, Speaker, Christian Life Coach and Freedom to Flourish Founder. Jen is currently accepting new clients. You can learn more here.
Jennifer C. Stone-Sexton © 2023
All graphics created by Jennifer C. Stone-Sexton © 2023
All Right Reserved.
Photo Credits: Cover Photo by Khadeeja Yasser on Unsplash | Photo 2 by fa-barboza on Unsplash
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