the desires of my heart

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

I've known this verse as far back as elementary school - I can picture a plaster wall hanging that I got to paint at VBS the summer I had finished 4th grade. The plaque was shaped like a scroll and simply had the words of Ps. 37:4 raised up to be painted (poorly if my memory serves me well).

For years I've interpreted that to mean "if I find my joy in him - he'll grant me all my wishes". Well... I would never really say it that way but truly that's what my line of thought has been. My thoughts on this verse have been stretched and challenged over the years to morph into something more like "If I find my joy in him he'll help me reshape the things I want in life so that my desires line up with the things he already knows he wants to give me".

Today - as I read this verse and then read a note in my study Bible that says "choose his pleasures and he will choose yours" I was struck by a completely new take on this verse.

If I choose to pursue the things that please God he will IMPART to me the things that will be my delight. I'm not sure I can word it properly? As I pursue things that are pleasing to God he will not just reshape my desires to match his but he'll actually transfer his desires to my heart. He will hand pick the desires of my heart.

After hearing God speak this to me I am certain it's by no coincidence that today's scripture reading also included a chapter in 1 Corinthians - I glanced at the final verse of chapter 2 as I opened to read chapter 3. 1 Corin. 2:16 says "But we have the mind of Christ."

The mind of Christ and a heart that matches God's heart. A tall order but my part is simple - delight in Him. Not always easy. His worth should make it easy but my junk gets in the way. Easy or not it is indeed simple - delight in HIM!