HAVING A HEART AFTER GOD

“Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.”  Psalm 37:4-5

     Receiving the desires of your heart all hinges on our commitment to the Lord and His ways.  When the Psalmist says to delight yourself in the Lord, what he is referring to is delighting yourself in God’s word, His worship, His law and His ways.  Our desires need to line up with His desires for us.  This is how we receive our deepest desires.  God is not a genie in a bottle, nor is He Santa Claus, so forget about asking for a fancy car or a winning lottery ticket. He is the Almighty Creator God. He distributes His blessings to whom He chooses and is never wrong in His decisions. 

     When we commit our way unto the Lord, we need to trust Him to lead us and provide all that we are in need of.  Here are two other verses in the Old Testament that speak of committing your way and works unto the Lord. “Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established.” (Proverbs 16:3) and “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” (Psalms 37:5) 

      As believers we should seek our happiness in God, more specifically, in his being, his perfections, his friendship and his love.  Seeking happiness in Him will regulate our desires. In addition to bringing our desires to pass, the Lord will also preserve our character and reputation.  That’s all part of His unconditional love for us.

Resources: Barnes’ Notes on the Bible; Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments.

* NOTE: Joseph Sutcliffe, M.A., an English Wesleyan minister, was born at Baildon, Yorkshire, England. He was converted in early life and was appointed by Wesley to Redruth in 1786. Sutcliffe introduced Methodism into the Scilly Isles in 1788, and spent the last twenty years of his life in retirement in London, where he died May 14, 1856.

Translation: NKJV - The New King James Version.