Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
What are my heart’s desires? They’re not the egocentric ambitions that so easily distract – wanting to be important in the eyes of others, to stand out, to pamper myself, to climb another rung on the ladder, to be the life of the party, to be admired, to take the place of honor, to gain more power and prestige. These and related cravings are only trying to get at something deeper, like longing to be truly loved or thirsting for meaningful life purpose. If I try to get at those things by any other means than delighting in God, I will come up empty again and again. But if I pray and seek God, if I study his Holy Word and obey its teachings, if I delight in Jesus, then he will give me the desires of my heart. He put those desires there in the first place so that I would find him.
Father, as the great Augustine once prayed, so I pray now: You have made us for yourself, O God, and my heart is restless until I find my rest in you. Remind me today about this truth. Let me turn my attention away from the distractions and toward you. I want to delight in you so that my heart is ready to receive all that you so generously give.
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