Good Things and Heart Desires

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” - Psalm 37:4

Take a moment and look back at your life — have you always gotten everything you wished for? Perhaps you can recall a situation where you wanted something with everything in you, but you never obtained it. In hindsight, is that a good thing? Maybe you realized later that thing would have done more harm than good? I know there have been plenty of times in my life where I have “thought” I wanted something, but in reality, the Lord saw it best that He withhold it from me. Looking back, I don’t always agree with His decision; my flesh tells me that God kept a good thing from me, and I don’t like it.

“…no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” - Psalm 84:11

Buzz kill. Seems we as Christians don’t always live out what we preach, do we? I know I don’t. I’m stubborn and selfish, my flesh is wicked. I’m like the girl on Willy Wonka who turned into a blueberry. I want what I want, and I want it now. There are two parallels between these verses that bring me to a conclusion that revolutionizes my walk with Christ. They hit me between the eyes, and I pray they do the same to you.

Parallel #1

My responsibility is to delight myself in the Lord (37:4) and walk uprightly (84:11). Delight myself in Him? So, I think about Jesus while frolicking through a daisy field and giggling hysterically? The Hebrew text here implies self-discovered joy, happiness, and (figurative) delicacy. So literally, look for my joy and happiness in the very person of the Lord Jesus. This means NOT in money, success, possessions, fame, relationships, or other people. Some of you just got convicted, like I did! And second, walk uprightly. The Greek here for “walk uprightly” literally means without defect, or blameless. Me, without defect; blameless? Pft, fat chance! Oh but enter the beauty of the cross. Remember that cheesy Baptist hymn “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus”? Not so cheesy anymore. “What can wash away my sin, what can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Oh how true those words ring in my heart — through the death of Jesus, I can be blameless before God.

Parallel #2

He will give me the desires of my heart, and He will not withhold any good thing from me. Yeah, that’s why I have a 1999 Trooper in the driveway with a busted fog light and a bent side-view mirror, right?! Somebody’s withholding something, because my desire looks more like a jet black ’67 Mustang with 500 horses under the hood. I joke, but I’ve honestly met people who think that way. If you think that tightening your sin belt and paying closer attention to your thoughts and deeds will land you a fatter paycheck or a better marriage, please allow me to tell you that you are sadly mistaken. Don’t you see? Parallel one is about our end of the deal - search for our happiness in God, and walk blamelessly. Parallel two is a double whammy: anything He doesn’t give us was never good, and when we search for our happiness in Him, HE BECOMES THE DESIRE OF OUR HEART. Light bulb. Josh’s paraphrase of Psalm 37:4, “make Me the desire of your heart and I’ll give you all you can handle and THEN some!” He never disappoints. Isn’t that simple logic? Now about those things in life you aren’t getting or never got — they aren’t good! Sure, they may be “good” things. A bigger paycheck or a slimmer body (or bigger muscles!) are “good” things, but who’s definition of good? Have you ever considered that the Creator of the universe simply knows you don’t need it, or that it isn’t His timing? If you find the Lord withholding something from you today, despair not! His timing is perfect. My encouragement to you today is to trust Him. Rest in His promise that He will NEVER withhold ANY good thing from you. Syncing our hearts with the Almighty is the key to joy, because He IS our joy.