Read Psalm 35 – 38
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4 KJV
It is interesting what people often do with this marvelous verse: they quote the second half and ignore the first half. I have had people ask, “Doesn’t God promise to give us the desires of our heart?” The answer is yes, bur with the whole statement before us it is obvious it is not an open-ended promise. I am sure glad God would not do such a thing. Not everything our heart desires is good for us, many things we desire are harmful to us, and like any good parent God knows the good from the bad and when to deny our requests. However, the first half of God’s promise does tell us how to insure a positive response to the desires of the heart. We must first delight ourselves in the Lord. When God Himself is the delight of our heart, when what pleases Him please us, when His desires become our desires, then we can count on God to grant us the desires of our heart.
Lord, I am glad You do not give me everything I want. In hindsight I have often been glad You said “No”. I still get distracted by my own pleasures. I pray that increasingly my pleasure will be in You, and that Your desires indeed will become the desires of my heart.
