God is not in the business of granting us the desires of our hearts.
In my talks with women about their personal #values and their #soul_needs, we inevitably come to the place were we have to discuss the difference between needs and desires.
This is where I find we Christian women have been infected by the worldly thought-process that God is the granter of the desires of our hearts. I say worldly, because, it's absolutely no different than the non-Christian's desires. There is zero difference between someone who wants God to grant them what they want versus someone who is hoping karma or "the universe" will grant them what they want. Zilch. Zero.
I see this most often with women who come from the same charismatic background that I do. One that has far too often mangled scripture or erred in translation or omitted context, only to have the lie spread like wildfire. I've seen certain errors come back around in my short(er) lifetime (I'll leave these for another day, perhaps) but the one below never seems to be vanquished!
It's based on a scripture in #Psalms:
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalms 37:4
I have seen and heard people take part of the scripture - the part about God giving us the desires of our heart - and leave off the first part. Alternatively, they might include the first part and make it sound like there's a requirement of time spent with Him or level in God one must achieve to arrive at a place where God is obligated to grant us the desires of our heart. So, we have two errors - #idolatry on one side and #legalism (which is also an idolatry at the root) on the other.
Both of these errors are in direct opposition to these verses (among others):
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." - Matthew 22:37
"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:31-33
So what does Psalm 37:4 mean? If we combine the context of the verses in Matthew with Psalms 37:4, we see that our hearts should be consumed with God Himself, His ways, His Kingdom, to the point that there's no room anything else.
But how do we GET those desires? Do we "fake it until we make it"? No! Psalms 37:4 gives us the clue: He will give you the desires of your heart.
At first, the desires in our heart are not from God. As we delight in Him (to know Him is to love Him, after all), we are transformed and HE GIVES US DESIRES in our heart.
This is like God shooting an arrow into our hearts, that arrow grows, then we run to Him and ask for the very desire that has grown and He laughingly, gladly, gives us what we desire because HE PUT IT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. We can be confident He will give it to us because HE PUT IT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Conversely, if the desire wasn't placed there by God, we likely won't get it. Why would we even want to?
This is how we move from just praying to prayer that gets answered! This is where contentment is found: asking for and receiving the desires God places in our hearts.
#Grace asks for and receives the desires God puts in our hearts.
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A response to Oprah's (mangled) use of this verse: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/is-oprah-right-on-psalm-37-4
How this relates to the covenants with God:
I'll be referring to this one often. What great insight. I'm embarrassed to say that it makes so much simple sense, but I never saw it this way. To say that He will give you the desires of your heart as though He's going to just give you what you want doesn't even line up with who we know God to be. Understanding that He will literally plant the desires in you resonates deeply....letting me know its truth.