SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1072

“The Desires of My Heart”

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

What are your heart’s desires? What do you dream about doing, achieving, having? What are your goals? Do you expect that God will give you what you desire?

Our tendency is to use this Scripture in such a manner that we expect God to become our personal ATM blessing machine giving us whatever our heart desires. But this is far from the truth of this Scripture.

Note that our heart is deceitful and sinful.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:19)

The bottom line is that, in our fallen state, the desires of our hearts do not come from God. So, how do we understand and apply Psalm 37:4 to our lives? The key is found in the word ‘delight’.

This word, delight, in the original language carries the meaning to be soft, delicate, and pliable toward the Lord and His will for you. We delight in the Lord when our heart and mind has been renewed and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit – when we are born again.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

A heart that delights in the Lord can hear and discern His will and direction for our lives.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (Hebrews 3:7-8; Isaiah 30:21)

When we are born again by the Holy Spirit the Lord supernaturally removes our hardened hearts of stone and replaces them with a heart of flesh, soft, delicate and pliable – a heart that can delight in Him.

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, (Ezekiel 11:19)

This is when the desires of our heart become His desires and our wills seek to do His will. We are no longer rebellious but serve Him with joy.

May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! (Psalm 20:4)