Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

In this psalm from David, he contrasts the wicked person with the righteous.

Thoughts for the day...
As I ponder what this verse means to me, I think about Jesus speaking to His followers, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11)

Yesterday I wrote about fearing God, that is, giving Him all of my love, respect, and obedience. When you have a relationship with God, you want to do these things. You want to do what is right, you want to please Him. In this way, He delights in us. It should be easy, in turn, to delight in Him as well. He is our Father, and He loves us more than anything else that He has created--we should delight just being in His presence!

Like any father wants to give good things to his children, God wants to do the same. He knows the desires of our hearts, and He wants to bless us with those things--if they are righteous and not self-serving. I don't think that God is just going to give us anything we want. When we express to God our desires, I believe He looks deep into our hearts and looks at the motive behind our desires. I think someone may read this verse and think, this is what I want, and I do delight in God, so why am I not receiving my desire? I would ask that person why he desires this thing. Are his motives righteous, or are they selfish? That, I believe, is the key to receiving our heart's desires.

My Prayer
Father, thank you for so many blessings You've given me. So often in my life, I've asked You for something, expressed my heart's desire, and You've answered my prayer. Often, too, however, I've expressed my heart's desire out of selfishness, and those prayers have gone unanswered. Looking back, I see that some of my prayers that have gone unanswered have actually been the blessing, because You have something better in store for me. Thank you, God, for knowing what's best for me and for blessing me with that which I really need.