What is meant by “God will give you the desires of your heart”?
Question:
Hello,
I hope that you are blessed in every aspect of life.
I am emailing you because I want to understand the meaning of the scripture in Psalm 37:4, which says that God will give you the desires of your heart. Now, I do not want to confuse the meaning where some of us think that God is Santa Claus. I understand that God knows our hearts, but does it mean we should give up our desires and seek God's? For instance, I want a better salary or "the Christian girl of our dreams" — that type of thing.
Please help me better understand this scripture so I won't be entrapped in worldly pleasures or desires.
Thank you for taking the time to read my email, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Answer:
"Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday" (Psalms 37:1-6).
There is a list being discussed:
- Do not fret or be envious
- Trust in the LORD and do good. Cultivate faithfulness.
- Delight yourself in the Lord.
- Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him.
Clearly, the topic in these verses is an encouragement to be committed to God and His ways. The results are also listed:
- The wicked will not last
- God will give you the desires of your heart
- He will do as He promised
- He will cause your righteousness and judgment to shine
If a person is committed to serving God then his desire will be to please God and not himself. This is similar to what John stated. "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him" (I John 5:14-15). The key is that "we ask anything according to His will." It isn't about me.
The desires are the requests being made to God. "You have given him his heart's desire, and You have not withheld the request of his lips" (Psalms 21:2). It is not about granting me anything I might wish because these promises are to the righteous. "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Psalms 84:11). The righteous will not ask for things that are contrary to God's will.
Going back to Psalms 37, the problem being addressed is that the wicked are troubling the righteous. But God assures the righteous that the wicked will not last. If the righteous will trust that God will handle the problem and focus on doing what is right, then the righteous will live in the land (while the wicked disappear) and they will have peace as they grow their faithfulness. God will give the desires of the righteous (to be undisturbed by the wicked), but the righteous have to be committed to God and His way.
The encouragement to the righteous is to focus on doing right and not to get distracted by the wicked. God will handle evil men. The righteous have better things to do with their time.
