Hearts desire

DEVOTION

PSALMS

HEARTS DESIRE

Ps 37:1-4

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

NIV

This psalm has way too much to deal with in its entirety. We need to bite off a little at a time in order to absorb all its truth. Sometimes it seems as those who do not know the Lord are getting way ahead in the world, getting the best positions, making the most money, having all the toys, so to speak. Some of them are living in the biggest and best homes, driving the most expensive cars, taking their big RV laden down pulling a big pickup truck loaded with the fancy custom golf cart and a motorcycle and with bikes and whatever else they can load in or on it. Some of them just have it all. But some of them are so poor, they live on the streets. Some of them have such horrible health problems they cannot enjoy a day without pain. Some of them are so worried about everything, they are filled with fear of losing all their stuff, or fear of not having enough. The point is all people are simply people. We can always find people with more then and better off then we are, and we can always find people who are worse off than we are. Some of them are non-believers, some of them are believers. Our task is to not fret about either of them, but especially about those who do evil, the non-believers. Some of them might seem to be getting all the toys, but a day is coming when they will wither away like grass. We may not be so comforted in the here and now, but we are admonished to be content in whatever state or life we are in. We have learned to live with plenty and we have learned to live in want, our particular physical condition is merely a temporary one. If we are living in plenty it may be temporary, if we are living in want, it may be temporary. In light of eternity all this physical life is temporary. The point is no matter how we are living, or how anyone else is living, we are to trust in the Lord and do something good with our life. Whatever situation we are in, we are to do something good in that situation. It does not matter how much we have or how little we have. It does not matter if we are extremely healthy or have health issues. We are to do something good with our life. What that good is may be quite different for each one of us, depending on what God calls us to do. But we are to do good and enjoy dwelling in the land with safe pastures. We are to delight ourselves in the Lord. This is we keep our focus on him, not on our lives. This statement about God giving us the desires of our heart might have been taken out of its context. In order for us to have the desires of our heart, we are to delight in the Lord. Delighting in the Lord should be the desire of our heart. This also might mean that if our hearts desire is to delight in him, which is the desire he has given to our heart. God gives us the desire to delight in him. It may not mean that if we delight in him, he will give us whatever worldly things we desire. If we are desiring worldly things, then could we say we are not delighting in him, but rather in the things of the world? How can we delight in him and desire all the stuff? Isn’t that like having a divided heart? Isn’t that like really not actually delighting in the Lord? We need to keep everything in perspective. He is God the creator with all the power and glory and honor. We are the created, created for his purpose. He has called us to a purpose, and the desire of our heart should be to have him accomplish his purpose in our life. That is our hearts desire.