Wednesday, February 4, 2009

...and he will give you the desires of your heart

This Christmas, my mom gave Shutterfly calendars to everyone in the family and I helped her create them. One of the things I added to this 2nd annual tradition was Bible verses. I put a verse on one page, and my mom loved that and asked me to do so for all. I did some and left the rest up to her. So I don't remember who added February's verse, but I think it was Mom.

I flipped the calendar page last night and read this verse: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

My first thought was, Ah, February, the month of love, with Valentine's day right in the middle of it.

And although this might have been the reason for the placement of this verse, I felt it timely for my life. God prompted me to stop and think about it. I wondered, "What does it mean to delight yourself in the Lord?" I pulled out my old Student Application Bible in the New Living Translation to see what it said. "Take delight in the Lord." A little clearer, but I was hoping for a different word. Delight. Hmm.

As I was going to bed I was thinking more about this concept. I have always looked at this from a future perspective, as if this verse is always YET to come true. Then I realized that God has already fulfilled this promise in my life. Yes, there are still -- and will always be -- things my heart desires, but that makes this promise even better. It is this ongoing process: continue to delight yourself in the Lord and he will continue to give you the desires of your heart. So what desire has God given me? I have mentioned it before: grad school.

This new perspective helps me to understand the verse; I can change my question from this abstract thought of "what does it mean...?" to "what was I doing in my life... how was my perspective at that time... when God gave me the desire of my heart?" I know the answer to this question! (If you have read this blog, you know too!) I was living with hope and the knowledge that God would do what was best in my life.

Living with desires for something specific, but trusting God --that His will is best, not knowing if His will includes this specific desire. That is how I have been living. It is new. It is almost paradoxical. It is great!

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