God Wants to Give Us Our Heart’s Desires

How would you react to receiving an absolute guarantee that God wants to give you your heart’s desire? Who wouldn’t want that, right?

 

When you consider the idea that God truly wants to give you your heart’s desire, what pops into your mind? Some might want to immediately start compiling a personal wish list to offer up in prayer. Others, however, might think this post is about to venture into the realm of so-called “prosperity theology” or the “name-it-and-claim-it” mentality. 

We find it fairly common in our American consumer-oriented way of thinking to equate God’s blessings with material things. Stuff like cars, houses, vacations, other forms of affluence. But that view is more of a cultural perspective than a biblical one. 

 

Consider this: If theological interpretations are to be true and biblical, they should apply to people universally, regardless of their status or citizenry, don’t you think? Biblical truth must apply to “Third World” believers – folks living in Bangladesh, an impoverished village in India, the barrios of Mexico City or the favelas of Sao Paolo, Brazil – as well as people living in more materially rich “first world” nations. 

 

So, it’s hard to see how a declaration, “God wants you to be rich!” relates to a devoted Christ follower struggling day-to-day in an impoverished region. That doesn’t mean God can’t bestow material gifts on His people, because He can and often does. But if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had “no place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20), why should we think we’re above that? Why should we conclude that if being His follower defines us  “children of the King,” the Lord is obligated to bless us with fancy homes and lavish lifestyles?

 

Wait. Didn’t I start off by saying the Lord wants to give us the desires of our hearts? Yes, I did. And He does. How do we know this? Because Psalm 37:4 says so: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” But let’s hit the pause button for a moment. Before taking that promise “to the bank” so to speak, let’s look more deeply at the rest of the psalm.

 

Psalm 37, written by King David, also declares we’re to “Trust in the Lord and do good.” It says we’re to “Delight yourself in the Lord…. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him…” (verses 3-5). Those statements are equally important because Bible scholars know to properly understand a passage in the Scriptures, or even specific words, we can’t ignore the context in which they appear.

 

I like the way pastor and author Tony Evans expresses it in his book, Kingdom Man Devotional. He wrote, “If [God’s] words are abiding in you, His wishes will become your wishes, and He will ‘give you the desires of your heart’ (Psalm 37:4), because your desires will be His desires.”

 

This can work in a variety of ways. Suppose a Christ-centered physician has built a thriving practice and has been generous supporting charitable causes. But one day he senses God is calling him to give all that up. Instead, the doctor senses the Lord is leading him to become a medical missionary, dependent on the financial support of others. Suddenly, the “desire of his heart” has changed.

 

I’ve known of many highly successful business and professional people who before committing their lives to Christ were intent upon building impressive financial portfolios. After He became Lord of their lives, however, their focus shifted to giving away as much of their wealth as possible. Industrialist R.G. LeTourneau and inventor/entrepreneur Stanley Tam come immediately to mind. God gave them the “desire of their heart,” but very different from what it once was.

 

A number of couples I know have had the joy of adopting children, For some it was because of being unable to have biological children or their own; others wanted to add to their biological families through adoption. This wasn’t their original plan, but again, God gave them the desire of their hearts and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Early in my journalistic career, the plan was to climb the ranks and become a newspaper executive, wherever that would lead me and my family. But God had other ideas. He closed all doors except for one, a parachurch ministry called CBMC, through which He presented opportunities I couldn’t have imagined. He bountifully gave me the desires of my heart, even though I didn’t realize it at the time.

 

The list of examples could go on, but the point is clear: When God gives us the desires of our hearts, they aren’t shaped by our self-centered wants and wishes. He changes our hearts and prompts us to embrace what He wants for us because, as Romans 8:28 declares, “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” How comforting is that?