S186P2 – A promise is a promise: a heart’s desires
Psa. 37:4-6
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him also and He will do it. He will make your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like the noonday sun.
When we get saved, the expectation is that we do a complete about-face. For many of us this comes in phases, some shorter or longer than others. The girl seemed to change her mind about everything once she met Jesus. She recalled her youthful aspirations and career ambitions but could not reconcile them with her new life in Christ. She stopped on that road to take stock of whether she indeed should pursue other ambitions. The more she focused on God and prayed for his discernment, the more her mind changed. Not only was God not giving her the things she previously requested, but He was putting new desires in her heart and fulfilling them instead.
Before I got saved, I just wanted to be rich and famous. Reading this verse as a baby Christian, I might have thought that God would grant me that because it was a desire in my heart. Now that seems like a rather unsophisticated way to interpret these words. My motivation behind my prior desires was simply to elevate myself, to make life comfortable and better according to the world’s standards. I just wanted to have what I thought would be enjoyable to have, but that is rather hollow. Now that I have taken time to delight in the Lord, He has put new desires in my heart and continues to fulfill them daily. He does not simply give us what we want, He directs us on what we should want and helps us make that happen.
If you have delighted in the Lord and spent time experiencing joy just in the fact that you have him, then you have reached that place. Take a look inside your heart and ask yourself whether the desires in there have come from you or whether God has given you dreams you would not have chosen for yourself. As our characters change to be conformed to his, those things which draw our attention and bring us excitement should change as well. Those are the things He wants to make a reality in our lives. Father, continue to make us fertile ground for the planting of the tree which bears the fruit of your will, that we would delight in You and your purposes.