Psalm 37: 4 states, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" and this verse came to mind earlier this week as I was dealing with my back... again.
I came out of a visit to the chiropractor somewhat discouraged. After realizing my propensity to idolize health, though, I was not quite as discouraged. But I did talk with Jesus about it. I told him my heart's desire was to be healthy, to be whole.
But then I stopped and rethought that. No, my heart's desire is not to be healthy. That would be nice, but my heart's desire is to praise God in the good and bad. And he's using my back to bring about that. I don't like it, but it's true.
I think it's a good challenge to look at what we want and compare them to our heart's desire and simply ask "should they be"? White contemplating this verse while single (and wanting to be married), a lightbulb went on: God should be our ultimate desire, so if we are delighting ourselves in him, he will give us that desire - more of himself!
Practically for me, when I was single I wanted a husband and now believe this desire was placed by God, but all my desires for jobs, status, etc. were NOT from God. It took a long time and a lot of patience to see which was truly from God. When I caught myself developing a crush I would pray "Lord, fulfill or remove this desire!" I was amazed how often and faithfully God would answer that prayer by removing the desire for that man.
So what is your heart's desire, not those desires of the flesh, but those desires that God has given so that you may know him more and make him known? I say this with caution - our hearts must be continually brought before God to be sure we are pursuing the things of God and not our own fleshy desires. Our ultimate desire must be to delight in God, from that we will bring him glory and he will bless us in ways we cannot imagine... and ways that may look strange to this world (singleness, pain, a life of sacrifice in a foreign country, etc.)
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