"Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart." (Ps. 37:4)

I used to respond with mixed emotions to this verse.  On one hand, it sparked a hope within that my Father saw and knew my heart and would answer those secret longings which I had been carrying around, even from childhood.  On the other hand, I hesitated, wondering whether my aspirations were just my own or from Him.  How could I know?  And so, over the years, I laid down a lot of "my desires", not wanting to walk in selfish disobedience.

Two years ago, the Spirit began to stir me up in this area, actually rebuking me for laying down pieces of the vision God had intended for my life.  Again, I was torn.  How could I know what He had placed in my heart and what was of my own making?

I believe that even at our conception the Father put unique tendencies and longings and dreams in each of us.  Some of these original desires survive even when we rebel, and direct to a degree what we do and who we become.  Our own selfish ambitions emerge more and more as we long after the things of this world, however, and the waters get pretty muddy.  When we turn our heart back toward God and realize that our own desires distracted us from His thoughts and plans for us, questions can still linger.

So, how do I know if my desires line up with His?  I ask myself a few questions, believing that His Spirit will show me the truth:  Above all of my individual desires, what is my one desire?  Am I truly willing to do whatever He asks?  Have I laid what I am longing for at His feet but it still cries out from within me?  If my love and desire for Him rises up above all else, then I must step out in faith, believing that my longing is His.  I must lean on Him, confident that He is fully able to override my selfish desires with His own - trusting that "it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in (me) [energizing and creating in (me) the power and desire] both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight."

Going back to Ps. 37:4, I want to look at the condition of "delight yourself also in the Lord."  There is much more to being delighted in God than just being happy with His blessings.  Anag, the Hebrew word used here and translated as delight, is a primary root meaning to be soft or pliable.  What an amazing picture this is.  It is what the Lord spoke of in Jeremiah 18:6b, "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand."  We were formed in our mother's womb before our birth, and when we turn our heart toward Him in a second birth, we are being formed again - shaped and molded into the image of Christ, the firstborn among many brethren.  As we yield, as we trust, as we rely on Him, we are being conformed even more intricately into His image in purpose, thought, and action. We received God-given desires at conception and are given more each day as we lay our lives down before Him.

I want to encourage you - don't quickly lay aside the thing which you desire, the dream that has been hibernating within you.  It may be the doorway which He has chosen to pour out His glory through you.

 

Amy