Desires of Your Heart [Devotional]
Psalms 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
I know we’ve all heard this verse and what’s more, we’ve probably all heard this verse misapplied. Frequently people will chop off the front of the verse and get straight to the juicy stuff, the “…He will give you the desires of your heart,” turning God, in their imaginations, into a cosmic vending machine who will get you a dirt bike for Christmas if you show up to church three out of four Sundays a month.
But that is, obviously, not what it means. Unfortunately, I see people almost discard this verse from their thoughts because it is so often misused. Yet we know that ALL scripture is profitable (2 Timothy 3:16). So what is it actually about?
Many people say the key to understanding the verse is the beginning, “Delight yourself in the LORD…” saying that when we delight ourselves in God He changes our hearts and desires so that He delights to give us what our heart now desires. In other words, He gives us Himself, the ultimate longing of our hearts. I must say I agree wholeheartedly with this interpretation but I think there’s more to the passage here if we zoom out a bit.
I don’t have space to include all of Psalm 37 but I highly encourage you to read it. Here are the first nine verses.
1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. (Psalm 37:1-9)
The overall theme of the Psalm is about the contrast between the wicked man who seems to be triumphing at the moment and the righteous man who will ultimately triumph in God’s triumph. But just as giant painting is made of, often, minuscule brushstrokes so too God’s “big picture” victory will include the much smaller day to day victories of his individual people.
We notice a few things in these nine verses. Firstly, we see the paradox. Verse one tells the people of God, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!” In this world, it can often seem as though evil is on top. As though the people who sell themselves out to their evil desires are the ones who flourish. As those who know God, we know that this is upside down; that things should not be the way that they are. That evil should not triumph over good. And as we look around us and see evil seem to triumph again and again we can easily be discouraged. Since God often calls us to teach what we ourselves are learning I can only imagine the Psalmist looking out at the world, much as we do today, and seeing little if any hope. Perhaps he began to worry or to be tempted by the worldly success of those around him.
But the Holy Spirit does not allow him to dwell here. Instead, he directs him to write the plan. Despite the injustice of the world we live in God is still in control and calls the psalmist to change his perspective. He gives the righteous a new focus by calling them to action. In just six verses (3-8) the Lord tells the righteous to do nine specific things.
Trust in the Lord (vs 3)
Do Good (vs 3)
Befriend Faithfulness (vs 3)
Delight in the Lord (vs 4)
Commit Your Way to the Lord (vs 5)
Trust the Lord (vs 5)
Be Still/Wait Patiently for the Lord (vs 7)
Fret Not (vs 7 & 8)
Refrain from Anger/Forsake Wrath (vs 8)
Now we could unpack each one of these to great benefit but that would take quite some time. However, if we look at this group as a whole I think we’ll see a trend.
Remember the original problem of paradox was that the righteous see the wicked flourishing and it doesn’t seem right. But this list doesn’t seem to be a plan of action to bring about earthly justice… instead it’s a list of actions that focus the righteous on God!
It’s about a perspective shift. When we focus on the injustice in the world when we are overwhelmed by its problems we lose sight of the fact that, “they [the wicked] will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” (vs 2). Not that we should delight in their downfall (not even God, who has every right to delight in the death of the wicked, does not [Ezekiel 33:11]). Rather this is to be a reminder of the very principle that Jesus expresses in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The actions prescribed here focus our hearts away from the temporary problems of earth and instead trains our gaze on the imperishable glory of God, His ultimate provision, and unfailing faithfulness. I’m not saying that this means we ignore the problems of this world but rather that we should understand them in light of eternity.
When we envy evildoers, we are focused on the temporary victories of this world, when we focus on the eternal victory of Christ we can look on the same scenarios without falling into a pattern of wishing we had what they had. Instead, we are satisfied in Christ.
So what does this have to do with understanding verse 4? How does this interpret, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”? Hopefully, the verse speaks for itself at this point.
When we delight ourselves in God, when we put into action what we see in these verses, our hearts are conformed to His. Our desire is for God Himself… and our Father delights to give of Himself freely and generously to His children. Indeed this generosity turns on its head the idea that earthly success and happiness are what God is promising. For it is often in the darkest times and in the hardest trials that God pours Himself out most abundantly to His people. Think of Job, in the middle of his trial God shows up. Or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego it was in the furnace that God was with them.
While God does also bless us in this life (James 1:17) He is not about the business of making us comfortable here but rather He is at work to transform us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29)!
As our hearts delight in God we are ever increasingly filled by what our heart desires… God Himself. It is this delight in which we can and will be satisfied… unlike the world’s empty promises of temporary pleasure and comfort.
So whatever your dreams, whatever your goals, whatever your passions I’m not saying that God will necessarily discard them. But He will ask you to lay them down and pursue Him first. Perhaps He will fulfill your dreams perhaps He will give you new and better dreams but if we truly wish to be satisfied our dream, our goal, our passion, our desire must be, first and above all, Jesus Christ Himself. For the more we thirst for Him the more deeply we will drink of the water that satisfies our souls for eternity!
So….
“Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.”