Psalms 37:4- Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart
This verse is more in depth than people really think. There’s a lot of people that read this verse and think, “Oh awesome, God I want this, I believe in you, and so I shall have it!” But God isn’t that way. This verse starts off this way for a reason.
During the last couple years, it’s been very rocky. I went from complete trust in the Lord and confidence that I am doing the right thing, to extreme humbling, and then submission to the will of God. Again and again this repeated, as I’m sure it will continue throughout life. I kept thinking, well these are my desires, they must be from God and I love him, so bam, it’s the perfect mix.
The funny thing about our desires is that they are fleeting, failing, and some of the time, they harm us. The bible tells us that there is a clear and distinct difference between God’s desires for us, and our desires for us. I wanted to plan my entire life out, and because I had God on my side, I just kind of figured it would always work out. I want things that are good and godly, so that must mean God will give them to me. God doesn’t work that way. We can’t just have everything we want, even if it’s “Christian”.
God really showed me over the last year about how life looks when He is in control, and what it looks like when I am in control. I was mad one day after an ended relationship with someone I thought I was going to marry, and started questioning God. I cried at him “God! I don’t understand, this person loves you, I love you, we would be in ministry serving you, why did you change my plans?” God spoke back so clearly through his word. Those are not my plans for you. I know the Jeremiah 29:11 bible verse pretty well. I know the truth! but God lead me to an unsuspecting story, that I often don’t relate with very well. Here comes the humbling!
Job was a man in the bible who suffered more than we will probably ever suffer in our lives. He lost everything. I mean everything. Family, health, fortune, success, status, and reputation. And to top it off, he had friends who were constantly playing detective shoving in Job’s face that “this stuff just doesn’t happen to people who haven’t sinned against God. You must have sinned!” Through the story of Job, we see him on his high of life, and in the low of life. God had allowed great suffering to come on Job, in order to prove to Satan how faithful Job was to him. That even with nothing, Job would not turn from God. There is a point where Job gets pretty mad at God, and begins to question him. And boy does God have a response that just puts us right in our places.
He says in Job 38:2 :
“ Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements- surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
God continues describing his creation and how it was formed by him, and questioning Job about where he was when it was done! Woah. I was completely stopped in my tracks. I was getting mad at God because he wasn’t letting me have control of my life. Well his reply to my heart was this, “If you want to be in control of all that I handle, go ahead and think about all the things I do for you in just minutes of your life. I raise the sun and the moon, I rotate the earth on its axis at the perfect degree so that each part gets morning and night. I give you oxygen! As if that isn’t enough, I pump your blood, activate your neurons to keep you alive, bring to your mind thoughts, ideas, and feelings. I give you the ability to walk, talk, love, laugh, work, and rest.” So I realized, what if God gave me what I wanted? The ability to control my life? There’s no way I could even begin to handle all of those tasks. I literally cannot do all of those things, and most of those in a single minute of my life!
God reminded me that if the Creator who did all of those things for Job and does much much more for us today can handle all of those things, those small details, for every single person on earth, why wouldn’t he know exactly how to handle my future. I am completely in awe of the Lord! I began to delight in the fact that he cares so much for us, that he works millions and millions of things in our lives and world together, just for our good, because we love him.
So the desires we have, only come to fruition when we delight in the Lord. Because when we start to delight in him, our desires line up with His desires. And he gives us the desires of our heart, because they are His heart too. So when my plans were wrecked, God reminded me of where I was putting my trust. I was trusting in God to make my plans successful because I loved Him. But He loved me enough to put a stop to plans that were going to potentially ruin my life. When you delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart.
So here I am, my life is completely different than I would have thought it would be. I’m a 23 year old single woman, with 3 roommates, no career, and I have just been asked to be the youth pastor of the youth group I have been serving in since I was 16. God is faithful in his promises to me. If I was allowed to control my life, my dream of youth ministry, would never have happened. God works things together for our good…. when we let him! And when we delight in Him, our desires align with His desires, and His desires for us, are always good.
-Katie Roach
