The Desires of Our Hearts

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

I didn’t grow up learning who God was or how to study scripture and I didn’t know anything about context. But somewhere deep inside, I always had a distant longing to know Jesus. I call it “chasing after Jesus” even though I didn’t really know why.

But He was calling me to draw near to Him and I’m forever grateful He didn’t stop pursuing me (nor does He now).

Where I kind of really fell off the deep end (speaking of this verse) was thinking that this Psalm 37:4 might be telling me if I chased the Lord, He would surely give me whatever I wanted. I mean, that’s what a good dad does, right?

Not exactly…

But I wanted a car. I wanted a place to live. I certainly wanted a boyfriend. I wanted to be a big music star. And I did make some efforts towards those particular “life’s line items”.

And even though I had some success with my wants and doing what I needed to do to make them happen, when I did get to a goal, it either didn’t satisfy me or led to a dead end. Eventually, I was left feeling empty, overwhelmed with life, disappointed, and depressed. And up until my sobriety date, drunk too.

Every. Single. Time.

But why?

Well, for starters, in my life’s line items, as you can see, I never put “I need to personally know God” on it – not to mention at the top.

It wasn’t until I had a supernatural encounter with the risen Jesus, in one of the most desperate moments of my life that I realized He was wanting me to recognize Him, as worthy of being my deepest heart’s desire – and all that I would ever need.

Not the car, apartment, boyfriend or band. but Him.

And it wasn’t about simply knowing about Him. Eventually, I began to realize Jesus wanted to have this relationship with me personally, by way of His Holy Spirit, to know Him (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) personally not just “about” Him.

(Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” – John 14:9.)

For it is only in knowing and experiencing God personally that I find my heart’s true delight. My joy. My peace. My purpose; which is to know Him and help make Him known to others so they may also, if they (whosoever) will choose to, share in His goodness – not talking “things” – but His very presence – see Matthew 22:36-40.

I’ve heard it put simply this way: either God will give you the desires of your heart, or He will change your heart to align with His so, either way, we can trust that He will fill us up – whichever way He deems necessary for our spiritual growth and His glory, when we put Him first 💛.

Friends, what is you heart’s desire? ❤️‍🔥