Will God Really Give Me the Desires of my Heart?

During the teen years, one verse that is often heard is Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Today, I want to explain this verse and give my own personal story to understanding it. In the beginning of my Christian walk, I thought this meant that if I was faithful, stayed away from sin, and did what was right, God would give me things I sincerely wanted. Things that were good for me and honorable in his sight.

…and I thought He was fulfilling it all when I was 17 and met Seth.

Seth was my “high school sweetheart”, and I was convinced he was The One. We talked about marriage and basically laid out that after I got out of college and he finished his first stint in the military, that we would pursue the future together.

I could not have felt more in what I thought was God’s will for my life. It was as if God was granting me at a young age the desires of my heart: my dream college, my dream guy, and my dream of an abundant life.

Dreams shattered

Fast forward to half way through my first semester of college and a phone call came that I had always secretly feared. Seth broke up with me, and to say my heart shattered is an understatement. Through college and shortly thereafter, I moved through three negative relationships and when the last one ended, I came to a point where I was simply done with dating. My mind drifted back to Seth, and I ached for that relationship. After all, it was the only positive one I had experience over a span of six years.

Some time after that, I did an internet search of his name, and I found a video of him on YouTube sharing his testimony, and the tears flowed. I noticed in the video that he had on a wedding ring and a familiar pit returned to my stomach when I realized there would be no future with him. The door was slammed shut in my face.

What’s your desire?

Is there something you desperately desire?

To be healed of something?
To have a boyfriend?
To get accepted to a certain college?
To be married with a family of your own?
To land the perfect job?
To do something BIG for the Lord?

So, if there is something we desperately desire that we don’t have, then how do we make sense of Psalm 37:4? Does God put all non-sinful desires in our hearts? Is he supposed to give them to us? Why does it seem that he’s “holding out” on something we desperately desire that is not sinful or bad for us?

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Understanding our heart’s desire

The first part of Psalm 37:4 states, “Delight yourself in the Lord…”. What does that really mean?

According to the dictionary, “delight” used this way means to please (someone) greatly. So, in this case it is to greatly please God. God is pleased when we follow his commands and seek to be more like him.

Over time in my adult life, I have realized that the more I sought to follow God’s commands and to be more like Him, the true desire of my heart has become, “Whatever you want from me Lord, I’ll give, and whatever you have for me Lord, I’ll take.” I am finally at point now where my heart’s desire is whatever it is that God has planned for me.

If I had had the spiritual maturity in my teenage years, I would have had a completely different attitude when it came to my relationship with Seth. Instead of saying, “God, I know marriage is holy and designed by you and I feel like you want Seth in that role because I really like him and he’s a Christian,” I would have said, “If marriage with him is what you want for us, you’ll lead us that way. Help me in the meantime keep my focus on what you want, not what I’d like to happen.”

Truly delighting in the Lord causes our desires to become “whatever you have for me, Lord.” I believe once we get to that place, he will give us the desires he put in our heart. It may not fit into or preconceived plan or how we think things should work out, but it will fulfill us in ways we never considered.

In Closing

I know this is a “messy” topic that cannot have a neat bow tied on top of it after 600 words. It took me the better part of a decade to get to this point.

However, I hope that by sharing this, that those who read it will know they do not struggle alone. We are all on this journey together, and I want to lift you up on your way and share what I have learned over many years of wrestling with this topic. I hope you find some sort of comfort.

Thank you for reading and please share with anyone you think may need it.

Love to all,

-Sarah

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