“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
What a powerful passage of scripture… But the problem I have with living it out, is that ALL of my focus tends to be on “give you the desires of your heart”, while God’s focus is on “Delight yourself in the Lord”.
I read this to mean that if I “delight myself in the Lord,” then He will give me everything I want, which sounds a lot like delighting myself in “me”… But when I take time to consider what it means to delight in the Lord, I see that the desires of my heart should aligned with His heart. Then my prayer changes from “my will be done” to “Thy will be done.” You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to know that when Jesus taught us to pray, He taught us to seek God’s will.
So, my approach to this scripture appears to be flawed. It reminds me of the story of W.C. Fields, who was a known atheist and was once seen reading a bible backstage…. Someone asked, “W.C., why are you reading that bible?” to which he replied, “I’m Looking for loopholes”.
Too often I do the same, looking for ways to make God’s will match my will… when wisdom would dictate, I make my will match His. I need to read this verse as it was written, not try to manipulate it to serve my purposes. The odd dilemma is that sometimes, I view His will as a compromise or even a disappointment… which simply means I don’t understand who I am talking to when I pray.
If I grasped God’s wisdom and omnipotence, I would insist on His plan over my own. And If I considered the proven love God has shown for me then I would be excited to see what He has in store. If it weren’t so destructive, it would be laughable that I attempt to instruct the creator of all things, on how to best direct the life He gave me. … I have access to the most powerful and intelligent Being in all of existence… His love for me is undeniable… Should I be giving Him advice?
“The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God's will to mine, but to mold my will into His.” - Timothy Keller
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