The Desires Of Our Heart

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

- David, Psalm 37:4

I get it! All I need to do is tell God what I want, and He will give it to me, right? Jesus said that as well; He seems to support the same idea. In John 14:13-14, He says, “I will do whatever you ask in my name […] You may ask me anything in my name, and I will do it.” Then, in 1 John 5:15, we read, “And if we know that he [God] hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

I love this! God is like a genie in a bottle. Santa Claus on steroids!

Unfortunately (or maybe actually fortunately), I think we’re missing something in the translation. Houston, we have a problem.

Oh, believe me, I often quote Psalm 37:4 when praying for others. I believe and trust that God truly wants to give us what we desire. He finds joy in giving us what we want. Yet, there is more to it than that. In our selfishness, we ignore the other part of that verse, and the context of the other verses I shared.

Psalm 37:4 begins with, “Take delight in the Lord...” What exactly does that mean? The Hebrew word for delight is “anag,” which means to be soft and pliable. It is how one might describe a potter’s clay. In this context, it means that we have soft hearts that can and are being shaped by God.

It means our focus is on pleasing Him above all else. As we do that, His desires become our desires. We begin to align ourselves with Him.

This same idea is seen in John 14:13-14. We tend to focus on the part where Jesus says He will do whatever we ask, while ignoring the other part where He says, “...in my name.” This changes everything. Asking in the name of Jesus is not tacking on some words to the end of our prayer, and it is not simply name-dropping. It is about aligning our desires with His desires; it is about asking in accordance with all that the person who bears that name is, as if He were asking Himself. Asking in the name of Jesus for anything that He would not ask for Himself is slanderous. It is mocking Him, His character, and His reputation.

1 John 5:15 continues that idea. Again, we tend to focus on the words, “We know that we have what we have asked of him,” while ignoring the verse immediately preceding it where John writes, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Then he writes, “And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” Obviously, the key words are...according to His will. Asking according to God’s will, once again, means that we are aligned with Him and we are asking what He would ask.

Friends, I will continue to quote Psalm 37:4, for I believe with all that I am that God wants to give us the desires of our heart, but I also know that it is incumbent upon me to be sure that my desires are aligned with His desires, and not my selfish wants.

When we are aligned with God, delighting in Him, asking in the name of Jesus for what He would want and praying according to the will of God, then we have the assurance of God’s promise, “He will give us the desires of our heart.”

May we focus first on aligning ourselves with God, then trust Him for everything else. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Pastor Ken

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