Desire of My Heart

Delight yourself in the LORD and
he will give you
the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

One of the most beloved verses in the Bible...and one of the most misinterpreted...

I've been thinking a lot about the plans that I make (that generally don't work out exactly the way I thought) and how whatever actually happens is abundantly more amazing than my original plan. And all I can think is wow, He really does know my heart better than I do.

So that word delight...I decided to look up the original Hebrew...
"delight” (עָנַג, pronounced aw-nag): to be delicate or feminine, or sensitive and pliable
And after a little further digging, the context of delight in this verse means to be solely dependent on God and to find pleasure and satisfaction in Him alone. Interesting? It has much deeper meaning than simply thanking God for blessings and worshipping Him in Church. It's discovering that the greatest joy comes from fulfilling your purpose in glorifying Him. It's remembering our salvation through Jesus Christ and understanding only through Him do we experience an abundant life here on Earth and eternal life. It's finally realizing that void can ONLY be satisfied by the One who created it so that you would seek Him to fill it.

He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.
--Saint Augustine


What do you desire? That word literally means what you petition or request from the depths of your heart. It is something deeper than a 'want' that is also a need...similar to the difference between love and adoration. So according to the meaning of "delight," if you are truly "delighting" yourself in the Lord, He should be your greatest desire. It just makes sense - if you desire something, you think if you have it you will be fulfilled (and you should). If you have found true satisfaction in Christ, your greatest desire has been fulfilled.

BUT...there is that little 's' on the end of desire. So you get to have more than one!!! Hooray!!! The catch is Christ is the only one who knows the truest desires of your heart...the nearer you draw to Him, the more they are revealed to you. In my own life, I know there are some consistent desires that I know are from Christ; to be married- to serve another as Christ did, to understand the love relationship between Christ and His Bride (the Church), and someone with to share the joy of this life found in Christ, to understand the meaning of unconditional love; to have children- to truly understand the sacrifice God made in giving His only Son for me, to bless my parents with grandchildren, to raise them to glorify God in a lost world; to teach- to love and be compassionate toward children other than my own, to share the love of Christ through my everyday example and actions; to be a best friend - because I know that God speaks through those around me and even through me, because this too is a love relationship in which you understand sacrifice...

That being said...the details- the whos, whats, whens, and wheres- of these desires are revealed in God's timing. Some He's blessed me with or with a glimpse of, and the rest I will continue to wait for knowing that these divine appointments are more than worth waiting for...

small disclaimer: I am certainly no theologian, this is just what God has laid on my heart :)

Be blessed and be a blessing today!