“Led by the Desires of Your Heart”
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
What is it you most desire the Lord do for you? The answer to this question may be different than the answers you started out with nearly two weeks ago. Many of you may still be pounding the doors of Heaven asking the Lord for the same things you started out asking.
I have the same four things before me. They are big, but God is bigger. I believe they represent land that He has called me to possess by faith. I continue to ask for His mighty provision to help our church possess the nineteen acres He called us to believe Him for without going to a bank to borrow money. We believe that He is able to do this debt free. There are other personal things I keep desiring God to do. I know they will come in His time because He is teaching me to delight in Him.
What does delighting in the Lord mean? It means loving Him more and desiring him more than anything else on this earth. While writing this I am listening to a song by my friend John Rolf based on Psalm 73:25, written while praying about the woman he was dating who would become his wife. He believed that she was the woman for him and that she was the desire of his heart, but He wanted God more. John wanted to make sure that Jessica was the woman God had chosen for him. It is a beautiful song and brings back many precious memories. John delighted in God and God gave John the desire of his heart in a spouse. Several years ago, I had the privilege of being there to perform the ceremony when the two of them were united in marriage. Today John is a successful worship leader and he and Jessica have a beautiful child.
When we delight in God more than we delight in the desires of our heart, He can trust us with them. If we delight in our desires more than in Him, they become idols in our hearts that compete with our affections for Him. The things of this earth we spend so much time longing for, praying for, and agonizing for do not have the power to give us what we expect. Marriage partners can fail and disappoint. New jobs may bring with them the same old problems we faced on the last job. The grass is not always greener on the other side. The new car gets scratched, dented, and wears out with age. New clothing goes out of style and gets stuffed in the back of our closets. Books can go unread. Houses can be destroyed by hail, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
Still there are desires in our hearts for God to do something. Maybe it is to see a real revival in our churches and communities. Maybe it is too see God provide for some temporal need, or to see God bring about life change in someone we love and are burdened for. We all have desires, some of them secret and repressed. What do you long to see God do for you? Let me ask you now, do you desire God to give you that desire more than you crave God Himself?
As David stated in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” Those are powerful words and a clear reminder that God must always be the chief, supreme, and ultimate desire of our hearts. There is nothing wrong with desiring things on this earth as long as those things are things God wants for us and if we do not let them become idols in our hearts. The children of Israel desired a king even though God was already their King. He warned them that earthly kings would lead them astray, but still they wanted a king so they could be more like other nations. Sure enough, those kings brought about unfathomable sin and ultimately the judgment of God for the whole nation.
We all need clothing, lodging, transportation, food, etc. What I have to continually remind myself is that in my relationship with God, I have all I need. There is not a need I have in my life that He has not met. What I should desire most is Him and not just the gifts that He gives. He is my ultimate desire and the filter through which I sift all other desires.
If you truly delight yourself in the Lord, He has promised you the desires of your heart. I find it interesting that the more I desire Him, the more I desire the things He desires. I desire a pastor for FBC Humboldt, Saskatchewan. I desire land for this church so God can build His church and enlarge His kingdom both in Paradise, TX and beyond. I desire His name to be glorified through our praying and living. Yes, I have some desires. For as long as my family has lived in Paradise, TX we have desired our own house but currently live in the parsonage provided by the church. We are content to wait on Him. We desire to be completely out of debt so we are financially free to do more for God, and we continue to pray toward this end. I pray for open doors to preach all over the nation and the world, but I am content with the wonderful flock God has entrusted to me. What a special church I am privileged to serve. I desire for God to write His story for our church in such ways that other churches and pastors are encouraged and inspired to trust Him more.
Let me ask you again: what do you desire? May the Lord increase our delight in Him and continually give us the wisdom to align our desires with His desires. Then we can be assured our prayers will be answered.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Write down the true gut level desires of your heart.
On your list, where does your desire for more of God fall?
In what ways have you delighted in the Lord? Where do you find yourself falling short?
Ask Him to grant the desires of your heart that will bring Him glory.
What is He saying to you and what is He calling you to do in obedience?
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