“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

Christians tend toward two extremes regarding this remarkable promise of Scripture. Some forget the first half of the verse, seeing this as an unconditional promise for the fulfillment of every desire, no matter how carnal or worldly. Yet the verse clearly states that the Lord will only give us the desires of our hearts if we first delight ourselves in Him. So the verse is not a license for the fulfillment of selfish whims (James 4:3).

Other well-meaning Christians, in an effort to guard against this first error, go to another extreme. They downplay or “spiritualize” the second half of the verse to such an extent that the promise becomes essentially meaningless. They do so by claiming that the promise only applies to the fulfillment of “spiritual” desires. But Christians can certainly have desires that aren’t sinful but aren’t necessarily spiritual either. Surely the desire for immortality would fall into this category, and God has already promised us that (Psalm 21:4)!

Christians may desire to see other parts of the world, or to play a musical instrument, or even to explore God’s vast created cosmos but cannot do so in this life. We may have to wait for His return for these desires to be granted, but grant them He will! “The LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

This should not come as a surprise. God has already given us the most selfless, lavish gift that He possibly could: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). Christians have a Father who is both willing and able to give good gifts to His children. JH

From Days of Praise