Thursday, November 15, 2007

The Desires Of Your Heart

What do you want?

Is there something that you really, really want??

What does your heart desire for??

I am reading the Psalms as part of my devotions at the moment (I think it might take me a while to get through them, God is teaching and speaking to me a lot through them) and as I read Psalm 21 I came across a concept that I have often heard Christians speak about, but wasn't sure exactly where it came from.

Verse 2 of Psalm 21 says: "You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips."

This reminded me of a conversation I had last week while catching up with the team that went to the National Youth Ministry Conference with.

We were talking about whether God really does give us the 'desires of our heart'.

So I wonder, does God actually give everyone the desires of their heart? And if God did give everyone the desires of their heart, what would the world be like?

(I'm thinking maybe something like in Bruce Almighty when Jim Carey's character say yes to every prayer he gets)

But as I looked at the Psalm and the verse again I realised something.

Look at verse 1: "In your strength the king rejoices. O LORD, and in your help how greatly he exults!"

Before God grants any of the desires of this mans heart, first this man has accepted the strength of God and His help.

And then as I look in the fine print above the psalm I notice that this is recorded as being a Psalm of David.

You know the dude, King David, of David and Goliath fame, the man the bible calls "A Man After God's Own Heart".

So if God is granting the desires of David's heart, I wonder if they are really the desires of God's own heart??

Could this explain why not everyone get their hearts desire given to them??

Do you still trust in God even when you don't get exactly what it is that you want??

Check out verse 7 of Psalm 21: "For the king trusts the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High shall not be moved."

What occurs to me here is that even if David didn't get the 'desires of his heart' he would trust in God because David understood that god loved Him and that this love would not change.

There is still much that I am unsure of as far as the 'desires of your heart' thing goes, but this I am sure of: God loves me, and He died for me so that I can have a close relationship with Him, and that's enough.

What is it that your heart really desires for?

What is it that God desires for you to desire for?

Are they the same?

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this subject, leave a comment, tell me what you think.

3 comments:

Gracious Warrior said...

Psalm 145:18-19 says: "The Lord is close to everyone who prays to him, to all who truly pray to him. He gives those who respect him what they want. He listens when they cry, and he saves them."

I think that if you truly seek after God, and you truly respect him (by both loving and fearing him), then your desires will become entwined in his.
I don't think it's possible for someone to pray honestly for God to fulfill their desires if they have no respect for him.

Often when we lose sight of our main goal (that which is God, see Phillipians 3:14), our desires get sidetracked and they're not in line with God's will. And all too often, this leads to us being motivated by our own selfish goals.

If our desires are simply things that we as humans value, and not what God values- God's not going to give us these desires.

I mean, God created us in his image and hence, don't you think our desires would also be God's desires? That's what I'm lead to believe anyway!

God will grant us the true desires of our hearts when we truly connect with him.

Anonymous said...

I know this is a new comment on an "old" blog, but I just came upon it and wanted acknowledge your discovery from your time in the word.

Should you be communicating with someone that is having a hard time "getting it", or for whatever reason, really... I felt compelled to (perhaps) add to your tools: James chapter 4, and specifically verse 3 which states "when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

This passage supports your (and the first person's) comment about God's promise to grant the desire of your heart. And yet not everyone is aquiring all their "desires" because they aren't inline with HIS will.

Keep up the good work. May God continue to enlighten you through His word as you seek His truth.

Anonymous said...

I agree that when we're walking closely with God, we begin to learn what pleases Him and our desires allign themselves with His Word. There are many legitimate desires and when we have weighed our motives and allowed God to search us, then we pray... God grants us peace and joy in Him. At the same time we learn to trust the Giver and not the gifts and don't lose our faith even if those desires aren't given because we were keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus - the author and perfecter of our faith.