Promised Satisfaction

Promised Satisfaction

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

IN WORD It’s such an easy verse to abuse, isn’t it? On one hand, we could take it to mean that anything our heart fancies becomes ours, as long as we’re worshiping God. On the other hand, we could define the condition of “delight” so restrictively that the promise doesn’t really mean anything. Yet at some level, we know what the Spirit is getting at here: If our relationship with God is in order, we will somehow be satisfied.

Consider the thrill of this promise. Think of how you would feel if every one of your desires were fulfilled. What would it be like to have no more unfulfilled longings? No more pipe dreams? No more fantasies that are just too fantastic to come true? That would be amazing, wouldn’t it?

Yes, it would. And, in a sense, that’s what God promises. Whether we take this verse to mean that He will give us what our heart desires or that He will actually put the right desires in there to begin with, the result is the same: satisfaction. A direct correlation between the things we crave and the things God gives us. No more misplaced longings. No more unrequited loves.

There’s a lot to the condition here—delighting in the Lord—and there’s also a lot to the delivery—the desires of your heart. But at the very least, true love of God and a passionate submission to Him will result in the cravings and the blessings matching up. He will work in us the desires He wants us to have, and He will fulfill them.

IN DEED Sounds nice, doesn’t it? And it’s true. God doesn’t guarantee us a pain-free life, and He doesn’t promise us the whims of our heart. He doesn’t say we can name our price and He’ll pay it, and He doesn’t tell us we’ll have no more troubles. He does, however, tell us that the key to being satisfied is in Him—our utter delight in who He is. If that’s in place, He becomes our greatest desire. And that desire will always be fulfilled.

Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.

—ABBA POEMEN