Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Today is Ash Wednesday. See if you notice any people with ashes on their foreheads today. Hopefully you will be able to attend a service today as we begin the Lenten season. May our focus upon Jesus increase in these coming days leading to Easter as we draw ever closer to Him.
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Yesterday we looked at I Kings 3:5 where the Lord appears to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” As we proceed, it is important to remember that this is not a test – in terms of a right answer means acceptance and a wrong answer rejection. It is the “quality” of our answer, in the context of our lives and our relationship with the Lord that is important.
Today’s verse is remarkably similar to the scenario we have been considering. We simply change the question from, “What do you want me to give you?” to the Lord asking you, “What are the desires of your heart?” If you’re like me, that can be a tough question to accurately answer. The difficulty isn’t being able to verbalize an answer, but lies in whether the answer I give truly reflects my heart.
But this verse does something wonderful. It tells you how to get the desires of your heart – whether you are aware of what they are or not. The key is to delight yourself in the Lord. Consider it an “if, then” situation. If we delight in Him, then He will give us the desires of our heart.
This is a wonderful “trap” He has set for us. When we focus on delighting in Him, He transforms our motivation and our desires. We become caught in the wonder of delighting in Him – that becomes a major desire of our heart! We find ourselves caring less and less about getting anything.
The focus changes from us to Him. We become thrilled with the realization that delighting in Him is something we can grow in. The more we delight in Him, the more we are able to delight in Him. Delighting in Him, and all that entails, can become the desire of our heart!
Good stuff Don. I was just telling my DLA student yesterday morning that 10 years ago I wanted to be a millionaire and strived for that…..I would still take that now but not because I am pursuing it. But more important as the years move by and I drew closer to Him, as my heart changed, my desires changed, my surroundings changed, I changed and today I want to be closer to Him and hear his whisper. I am praying for you guys and love you.