A Spectacle Of Glory #280

Read: Psalm 37:4

Today’s Scripture reads, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Sometimes we see the first half of this verse as a means of obtaining something. Take delight in God, and you will get. Get what? Well, maybe a husband, a wife, a child, a job, or a new apartment. The truth is, when we take delight in the Lord, He becomes the desire—the only desire—of our heart. The Christian who truly takes pleasure in God doesn’t love Him out of compulsion. He doesn’t feel fettered by his faith, driven to duty, or marched at gunpoint into right living. He doesn’t think, How near can I get to wrongdoing without becoming entrapped? How close can I dance to the edge of the cliff without falling over? No, when we love God with all our heart, every obedience is a pleasure. And pleasing Him makes us ten times happier than pleasing ourselves.

Lord Jesus, I have seen this so often in my life—how You begin to replace my wants and desires with Your own. It isn’t always easy to let go of my longings, as You know so very well. But what You leave in their place is so much better. You replace cheap, sparkly trinkets with pure gold.