Deciphering Desires

Every morning for almost a year, I wrote this verse in my journal.  I needed something true.  I needed something I could trust.  I needed a way to test the ideas, the passions and the desires that were on my heart.  Why?  Because the heart is a tricky thing.  The world tells us to follow it, yet God warns of its deceitfulness.  Have you ever been deceived by your own heart?  Have you ever acted on the passions within you only to be left empty or unsatisfied?   The world’s advice failed me, my own heart led me astray, but I finally found this wonderful promise hidden within God’s Word.  I found a true way to decipher the desires of my heart and to have faith and confidence to act on the passions that were consuming me.  

Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4  

It took me a while to understand that this verse was not referring to me getting everything my heart desired.  Rather, this was referring to the way in which God changes and transforms us by replacing our desires with HIS desires!  As we delight in God, our focus begins to shift.  We ponder different things.  We naturally worry less.  And somehow, without even realizing it, we begin to have desires we’ve never had before.  We begin to have new ideas and passions.  This is the Lord working within us to align us with His will.  It is so beautiful and satisfying, yet many Christians are not experiencing this.  But why?  Because this is a transformation that doesn’t happen on its own.  This transformation only comes through knowing and delighting in God.  One of the reasons I am so passionate about being in God’s Word, and encouraging others to do the same, is because we cannot know Him apart from His Word and we cannot delight in Him apart from knowing Him. 

“The reason many Christians do not delight in God is that they do not know Him very well, the reason they do not know Him very well is that they do not spend time with Him.” -James Boice. 

Do you feel like you know God well enough to truly delight in Him?  He gives us such a wonderful promise in this Psalm.  He promises to change the hearts and desires of those who truly delight in Him, and to continuously align their desires with His good and perfect will. 

If you feel like you’re living in limbo or have been let down again and again by your own heart, I want to encourage you to test your desires against scripture.  Are you trusting in the Lord and doing good?  Are you truly enjoying the blessings of His faithfulness?  Are you consistently spending time in His Word and delighting in Him?  

The truth is, God lays out a perfect formula for us to grab ahold of and live by; a formula that we can trust!  We don’t have to go through life wondering what His will is for us or worrying about being led astray by a deceitful heart.  We can decipher our desires!  His will is not intended to be a mystery.  He reveals it to us as we seek Him, as we draw near to Him and as we delight in Him.  

My friend, if you know you have been doing these things and are truly delighting in the Lord and spending consistent time with Him, then it might be time to take that step of faith and act with confidence on the desires He has placed within you.  The heart is deceitful above all things and should not be followed UNTIL it has been changed by the power of God through His Word!  Finding delight in God is the key to a happy, satisfied life, not because He gives us everything our hearts desire but because His desires become our own.

Digging Deeper: Think about the desires that are currently on your heart.  Do you feel like they are from the Lord?  How do they stand up against the test of scripture?

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