He will give you the desires of your heart…?
The issue of Smart Ministry that went out this week includes my conversation with John Bevere, the internationally known speaker, author, and TV host. John is a Pentecostal, and the discussion surrounded the fact that he does not teach “name it and claim it.” He talked about the importance of holiness as a prerequisite—something I’ve seen him emphasize in his life-changing book Drawing Near.
The repercussions from the “name it and claim it” folks have begun already, as someone announced to me (as if I was an ignorant heretic) that, “the Bible says He will give you the desires of your heart.” God wants to give us what we want.
Well, yes and no. Instead of pulling a few words out of context, let’s look at the whole passage she misquoted. Psalm 37:4-5 says, “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 act.”
By just quoting part of the verse, people are leaving out some significant things. The first part of the passage tells us to delight ourselves in the Lord. The word “and” sets this up as an if/then. IF we delight ourselves in the Lord THEN he will give us the desires of our heart.
What gives you delight? Probably many things. At church yesterday (Palm Sunday) we got genuine delight from watching the little ones waving their palm fronds and singing—and frequently whacking each other with the fronds (unintentionally, of course). There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Many find delight in other areas, such as satisfying greed and materialism. Is that wrong?
The Bible actually gives us a clear definition of what we should and shouldn’t be delighting in in Philippians 4:8-9 where Paul says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me–practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
So if we delight ourselves in the Lord, if we have focused our thoughts on that which is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable… then God will give us the desires of our hearts. The key here, of course, is that when we truly delight ourselves in the Lord then what our hearts desire will be radically different. And there’s another subtle trap; the most beautiful and commendable of things can actually become an idol if we love it more than God; if we spend more time with it than we do God.
And the passage she misquoted goes on to say, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Once again we see an if/then construction. If we want God to act on our behalf, giving us the desires of our hearts, then we need to have our lives committed to him and trust in him. This doesn’t mean, “I prayed the sinner’s prayer so I committed my life to him.” This means day in, day out, living in a way that is committed to his principles.
Do you gossip? Then don’t bother expecting him to give you the desires of your heart. (And today, gossip doesn’t just mean the conversation in the living room or on the phone. It also means the “prayer request” that is an excuse to pass on stories about someone. It also means forwarding the email with rumors that you haven’t personally confirmed as truth.)
As April 15 approaches, are you planning to “tweak” the numbers? Did you snap at your spouse over something? Do you… oh come on, you don’t need me to go through the list. Are you committed to personal holiness?
And then the verse gets to trust. Do you truly trust in God? There’s an easy way to tell: do you worry?
So yes, I do believe God wants to give us the desires of our hearts. But the Bible makes it quite clear that before he does so he expects us to find our delight in him, commit our lives to living consistently by his instructions, and trusting in him rather than ourselves. When we do that, then the desires of our hearts will align with the things he wants to give us.
