'Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.'
Psalm 37:4. What is the greatest desire in your heart--right now--as you read this verse? This verse is special to me--it's the verse more than one person has given to encourage me about the future. It fascinated me. What exactly does it mean, anyway? A formula to get God to give me what I want? I think there's a reason why this verse was phrased this way. Not 'IF you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart...' Delighting in the Lord comes first. It stands alone in itself, a command: Delight yourself in the Lord. And then-- --not so much the product, not the ends after the means, but more like a subsequent consequence-- 'He will give you the desires of your heart.' First delight in God. Learn to find your joy in Him, in what He is and Who He is to you. You will love Him better and understand Him better when you do, because He is a good God with much to be joyful in. As Stephen Charnock said: "It is not [God's] greatest pleasure to show His sovereign power, or His inconceivable wisdom, but His immense goodness, to which He makes the other attributes subservient." (emphasis mine) Maybe because our desires will then no longer harm us by distracting us from Him. Which could be (and probably would, whether we got what we wanted or not) if our joy was in them and not in Christ. Maybe because when our joy is in Him, our desires, too, are changed, aligned to His desires for us--which are the best for us, and so will surely come true. So yes, the desires of my heart must not replace You. They must not become what relates me to You, making You a sort of vending machine that will give me a Coke if I put enough coins in. They mustn't become what defines You or Your goodness. Whether or not He gives me what I want shouldn't be what makes God God, or what makes Him good. The desires of my heart have to come second. The joy of having them fulfilled mustn't be the main joy I'm living for, praying for. They have to come second, but they will come--You have said so.
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