RECEIVING YOUR DESIRE

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

Sounds great!  Let's do it!

Maybe easier said than done.  Is this a blank check, similar to "ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you"?  That too sounds like a blank check, but is it really?

God is not a god who will be manipulated.  He knows us intimately and thoroughly.  He is all-knowing, therefore, He knows our hearts as well as our outward actions.

Delight yourself in the LORD--what does this mean?  It means to make Him your priority--make Him the most important one in life.  Find joy, find contentment, find peace in Him.  There is a chorus which says, "You are my all in all."  An old love song said, "You are my everything."  That's what God wants us to find in Him.

When you gain delight from someone or something, you spend time with that person to really get to know them or you spend time doing that activity or hobby.  And it gives you happiness--gives you a sense of reward or success.

I find delight in my family and spending time with them.  I find delight in being with friends who love to do things I enjoy doing or in activities that I enjoy.

But most of all, the believer in God is to find delight in Him--being with Him--learning more who He is and what He is like.

The delight we can find with God is limitless, because God is limitless.  He is eternal.  He never sleeps or goes away.  Whenever I am awake, He is awake and available.  When I sleep, He is still there and awake.

Other friends, family and things I enjoy doing are there at times, but also NOT there at other times.  They give delight for the moments when I am with them or the times I'm doing them.  But they are not eternal.  The delight one can have with God extends beyond this earthly life we have into eternal life.  So it can last forever because He lasts forever.

The other part of the verse says,"He will give you the desires of your heart."  What is it you want most?  Will you get that?  Well ...

God knows whether we genuinely find delight in Him, trust in Him, and make Him Lord of life or not.  So if I have a selfish motive, He knows it.  "I will praise Him, find delight in Him SO ..."  In other words, I have an ulterior motive in doing this act.  I am trying to manipulate God into giving me what I want.  My heart isn't truly delighting in Him.  My heart is delighting in what I think He can do for me, so I attempt to get my request from Him.

But when we truly delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart.

One thing a person finds is that if you genuinely delight in someone, you really want the best for that person.  You even want the best for them at your expense.  That is what sacrificial love, as the word, "agape'" (Greek word) implies.  That love is a biblical and a godly kind of love.  You don't have a manipulative kind of love, "I do this just to get that."  But instead, you care for the person, regardless.  And this is not a love that is second nature to us.  It is given by God as we get to know Him, experience Him, and receive that love from Him.

So if I truly delight, I want the best for that other one.  Even above my own wants or needs.  I'm still working on that one.  Aren't you too?

Another thing I find also, though, and it is really part of that sacrificial love, is that my desires may change as I truly delight in that one.

My desires, if I really delight in them and care for them, will be what they desire.  Or, in the case of a person, at times what is really best for them, because sometimes their desires are not good for them.

With God, however, when I delight in Him, genuinely, sincerely, then my desires become what He desires.  We come to agreement what is best, and what is best is what He believes is best.  I get on His agenda rather than trying to get Him around to mine.

Human desires sometimes are impure, just as human motives for doing things are sometimes impure.  But God's desires and God's motives are never impure.  God is love--God loves everyone. And God wants the best for all.

When His desires are my desires, then it is easy for Him to give me "the desires of my heart."  As I spend time with Him, my desires change--they come around to His desires for me and what is really best for me.  (God always knows what is best--but I am limited in my knowledge.)

"Delight yourself (sincerely) in the LORD, and He will give you" godly desires, which are His desires for you, and then they can become the "desires of your heart."

So what are some of His desires that He can easily give you?