Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust in Him and He will do it. (Psalm 37:3-5)
Hello! I’m now a married woman and back from our honeymoon, and ready to get into my “new normal.” Since returning a week ago, I’ve been thinking about how blessed I am with my new husband Ed, and how God has given me the desires of my heart. My heart overflows at the thought that God did not let me miss out on the wonder of a relationship with a truly loving man who wants only to make me happy. At the age of 55, I thought perhaps such a marriage would pass me by, but God is faithful and the supreme Giver of good gifts.
Of course, as long as I live and breathe, I will continue to have “desires of my heart.” I desire that my children and Ed’s children would have a hunger for God’s word and a thirst for righteousness. I desire that they would draw near to Him. I desire that they would each rise up and make their lives count for Jesus. And, I desire that God would break Ed’s addiction to chewing tobacco. (I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this.) Ed earnestly desires that, too, and has tried to quit a number of times, but it’s a long-term habit he began in his teens.
As I’ve thought about this and prayed about my desires, it’s come to me that I can truly trust God for all of those desires, and that “He will do it.” I don’t have to have to allow my heart to feel as though there is no hope, and thereby allow my heart to get sick:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)
The fact is, if I look at the scripture in Psalms above, I have already fulfilled my part of the equation:
- I trust in the Lord
- I continually cultivate faithfulness to Him by spending time with Him and reading the Bible.
- I delight in Him. I daily praise Him for His amazing faithfulness to me.
- I have committed my way–my life–to the Lord. I strive to honor and obey Him.
So, then, if I am doing as He instructs, He will give me the desires of my heart. Period. It’s just that simple. I can count on it, and rest in His faithfulness. There is no “hope deferred” in this equation. My prayers are answered, my desires fulfilled…it’s just a matter of God’s perfect timing.
I remember when Ed and I were first dating, I was trying to help him understand that all he needed to do was believe in Jesus as his Savior. Period. But he kept saying he felt he needed to do more to earn the Lord’s grace. And I continued to tell him, “It’s a free gift, honey. You don’t have to earn it.” In this world, we look warily at free gifts…but when it comes to God’s grace and forgiveness, it truly is free through Jesus Christ. Its incredible simplicity is often truly difficult for people to accept.
It’s the same kind of incredible simplicity when it comes to the desires of our hearts. If we love the Lord God and delight in Him–cultivate an active and loving relationship with the living God–then He will give us the desires of our hearts. We can count on it!
So, as I was walking this morning, I began to name off my desires, and believing that yes, of course, these things will happen:
- Ed’s and my children, and our children’s children will hunger for the word of God and thirst for righteousness.
- Our children will draw near to Jesus and make their lives count for Him.
- Our children will then be given the desires of their hearts.
- Ed will be free of his tobacco addiction.
- Our marriage will glorify God.
- Ed and I will be given many years to enjoy each other.
- We will always be financially blessed, even as we financially bless others.
He will do it. He said so. Praise God.
