Thoughts on Desire

 

(The thoughts contained in this post stated last night when I couldn't sleep and were completed and corrected this morning when I was mostly awake.)

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

I’ve always thought of this verse as meaning that, if we delight in the Lord, He will give us what our hearts desire. In church this morning my head and heart got a little jolt. The associate pastor made a comment during the benediction, and he basically said that when we delight in the Lord, our desires are from Him.

Do you ever find yourself needing to just stop and breath and pray for direction? I find that to be more and more the case as I attempt to draw closer and closer to God. Nowadays I find myself constantly needing to search my heart and ask myself if the desires I find there are sown in the soil of this earth, or rooted in the truth of His Word.

Sleep. It’s about that time of night. I lay in bed and pray over the things that happened today, things that were good or not so good. I pray for tomorrow. I pray for wisdom. My mind strayed to what Mr. Peppers said, and I started to pray over my desires.

Maybe it was the coffee I had 8 hours ago, or maybe it was just the need to put my thoughts into words, but I sit here typing this and looking at what others have to say on Psalm 37:4. I think that what Spurgeon had to say on the topic was so interesting:

Verse 4. There is an ascent in this third precept. He who was first bidden not to fret, was then commanded actively to trust, and now is told with holy desire to delight in God. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Make Jehovah the joy and rejoicing of thy spirit. Bad men delight in carnal objects; do not envy them if they are allowed to take their fill in such vain idols; look thou to thy better delight, and fill thyself to the full with thy more sublime portion. In a certain sense imitate the wicked; they delight in their portion—take care to delight in yours, and so far from envying you will pity them. There is no room for fretting if we remember that God is ours, but there is every incentive to sacred enjoyment of the most elevated and ecstatic kind. Every name, attribute, word, or deed of Jehovah, should be delightful to us, and in meditating thereon our soul should be as glad as is the epicure who feeds delicately with a profound relish for his dainties. And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. A pleasant duty is here rewarded with another pleasure. Men who delight in God desire or ask for nothing but what will please God; hence it is safe to give them carte blanche. Their will is subdued to God's will, and now they may have what they will. Our innermost desires are here meant, not our casual wishes; there are many things which nature might desire which grace would never permit us to ask for; these deep, prayerful, asking desires are those to which the promise is made.

When I delight in the Lord, my only true desire is to do my Fathers will. Everything in my life should be an effort to do the will of God, to give Him glory. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” I’ve always wondered how eating and drinking can bring glory to God, and I think I understand a little better now. When we weigh each action, seeking to bring glory to God, purposing to bring glory to God, each thing we do is specifically for Him. Of course, not everything we do will be glorifying, for we are humans and imperfect, but we can strive to glorify him.

As I was looking at Psalm 37 I noticed the beginning of the 7^thverse, which says “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” I had to stop and think. I am at a time in my life where I have a few things I really want. I’m getting to the age where most people start wondering when I’m going to get married, I mean, I don’t blame them, cause I had this subconscious expectation that I would be married by the time I turned 20 or something. I’m finding I need to be waiting patiently on the Lord.

The Olympics are over, but I must point out something that I (and pretty much most Christians that I’ve been talking to) found to be strange. The skiing half-pipe gold medalist is David Wise. David is 23 years old, is married, and has a little girl. The articles on him all say he is leading an “alternative lifestyle.” What in the world does that mean? The fact that he’s married? Married at 23? Has a kid that young? I realize that so many things have changed in this world since even the last 100 years. People used to get married “young” you guys! Young people were encouraged to take on responsibility, get jobs, get married at a young age. Maturity isn’t expected from 18-25 year olds like it used to be expected. It’s not strange to see a 22 year old that would rather play video games in an alternate reality than be out working and earning a living. (I think this is a little off track, but I do wonder why society thinks this way.)

Oh! I just remembered where I was going with that last thought. In Christian circles, we are expected to marry younger. Not that we are expected to get married at 16 or 17 and start a family right away (although many young Christian girls have this as a goal for some reason) but starting a family at 23 isn't an "alternative lifestyle" to a Christian. Or is it? The pressure from the other side is that the world does question your sanity when you get married any younger than, say 25, and having a kid before that?!? Don't you need to take that time as a young adult to enjoy yourself and have the freedom you were "meant" to have. Oh my lanta!? Seeing the difference in how the church as a whole views something and how the world views something always puts everything into a little better perspective. Anyways...

You ask how this all connects? Well, here’s what I think. We are told to delight in the Lord. When we delight in the Lord, the desires of our heart will become more fully aligned with His. When our wills are more fully aligned with our Father’s will, it becomes easy to “be still” and “wait patiently for Him.” When we are in His will and being patient and seeking to delight in Him, we can find ourselves doing all for the glory of God. Even eating and drinking is done for His glory because it sustains our lives so we can continue to serve Him.

I finish with the desire to know Him better, and the words on my lips saying “Father, Thy will be done.”

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone be the Glory)