I often wonder what delighting myself in the Lord looks like...I often picture a child in utter amazement over something new, that look of sheer unabashed joy on their face, so perhaps it means this....'One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.'(Psalm 27:4 ESV).
Oftentimes, this verse becomes part of "prosperity gospel" teachings. Teachings where we are told, if you do this...God will do that...you know the verses..."ask & it shall be given to you...", "if you ask anything in My name...", "if you have faith..." And the list goes on. I believe too often we take these verses out of context & think I will have more money, a better home, etc. we think in terms of 'things' when we think of the "desires of your heart."
I think the more I decide to delight in the Lord, to sit in utter awe of who He is & what He's done for lil ole me; the more the desires of my heart line up with His desires for me. And His desires go far beyond blessing me with 'things' or position. His desires are not my fleshly hearts desires...if I am delighting myself in the Lord so He will give me my hearts desire....my desires are definitely not His desires.
So, before choosing to turn our backs on the Lord because "He isn't giving me what my heart wants"; perhaps we need to look a bit closer at a few things, the hard things in our own lives that maybe we'd rather just push under the rug & cast blame elsewhere...
1. Our motive in spending time with God. Why do we set aside time with Him? Is it because we treasure the relationship or is it so we can get something from Him?
2. Where we place our value... "Where your treasure is, there your heart is also"? or to put it another way, what does our calendar reflect as our value?
3. Are my desires more selfish or selfless?
4. Is this truly God's best for me at this time?
And lastly, if you are a parent (or had a parent 😉), do you give your child everything they ask for? If your child's hearts desire was to eat candy 24/7/365, would you allow it? Why/why not? I would not, because it would harm them, maybe not in those first moments; but eventually an all candy diet would cause them harm not good. As a parent, you know this...you can see the harmful implications down the road; so you say 'no, my dear child you may not have your hearts desire because this one will bring you harm.' Why do you tell them no? Because you love them and want the best for them, right?
Would you want your child to turn their back on you because of this? Of course not. The same is true for our Father in heaven. Not everything we want is 'good'. It may look good in the moment, but God sees the implications down the road & He does know best. So He says, 'no, my dear child you may not have your hearts desire because this one will bring you harm.' And yet, sometimes we push forward anyway...forcing our way, & just like the child who sneaks all that candy ends up with a belly ache, we end up in a 'pickle'.
Who is at fault for the belly-ache? ____________ Who then is responsible for the 'pickle'? ___________
The more i truly delight in the Lord....the more my hearts desires will line up with His. I hope you will take some time to ponder today with me....what am I delighting in today?
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