The Desires of Your Heart

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

What does Psalm 37:4 say to you? When you think about it, that’s a stunning promise from God. The danger is that we see only what we want to see, and that is the second part of verse, “ the desires of your heart.”

Our natural reaction is to start thinking about our heart’s desires in material terms according to the way this world values success.  And what do we desire? A bigger house, a newer car, a better job, more money, better holidays on a more regular basis, helping close family members to have those things as well.

Now, as humans, God gave us ambition, energy and drive to achieve things and to desire those material things is not wrong of itself. But should we be reading this scripture in that way?

The key is in the first part, “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Because if we do that, our heart’s desires will be very different from a list of material things. To delight ourselves in the Lord means that we surrender our will to Him. That our focus changes from purely material things, which are not wrong in themselves, but the spiritual things become more important and our focus. As we read in Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

God does not judge us on the house we live in or the car we drive, nor on any material things such as our outward appearance, however good it may look to the people around us. What God wants to see is what is in our heart (1 Samuel 16:7), where is our focus? On the now and the world in which we live, or on God and the future world in which we will live.

If we are focused on God then He will give us the desires of our heart. But those desires will be very different from our first, natural response of thinking what we can get in a material sense. Our desires will be focused on what we can give, how we can help and serve, how we can be a brighter light and a better ambassador for our Father in heaven. In short, how we can reflect the incredible love for all humanity that is the core and heart of God.

Prayer
Loving Father, help us to surrender our will to you, so we can be a servant and tool in your hands, reflecting the light of your love as best we can.
Amen 

Study by Keith Hartrick

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About the Author:
Keith Hartrick is an Elder in Grace Communion Church – Leeds, and serves on the Church Council there.

Local Congregation:
Grace Communion – Leeds
Garden Village
Welfare Association Community Centre
Pendas Way
LEEDS
LS15 8LE

Meeting Time:
Saturday 2PM

Local Congregational Contact:
Malcolm Arnold
Phone: 01484-312347
Email: malcolm701@googlemail.com