The Desires of Your Heart

Be happy with the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. That is one of the translations of Psalms 37:4. I like that. Be happy with the Lord. What does that mean? Does it mean laugh with Him? Does it mean be happy with what He is doing? These are very different things. But they are so connected. It’s awfully hard to laugh with Him if you are not happy about what He is doing. But you can be happy with what He is doing, and still not laugh with Him.

I love to laugh. I especially love to laugh with Him. It seems that one of the strongest manifestations that I have when the presence of God is strong is laughter. I can laugh and laugh with the best. This year at school we were doing a special night for the first year students and I helped run a laughing booth. I laughed for over tow hours. For over two hours of almost constant laughter. I thought I was going to die. I was so sore the next day. But there is also scripture about the therapeutic effects of laughter. So we really all need to learn to laugh with Him, just as we are happy with what He is doing.

It’s the second part of the verse that scares me right now. Be happy with the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. What does that really look like? What are the desires of my heart? Are they pure? Are they of God, or of my flesh? All these questions rush through my mind when I read this verse. I think it means that we have responsibility to make sure that our desires are His desires. I don’t want to get the desires of my heart if they are not His desires for me. Someone said the other day that sometimes God gives us opportunities that we should turn down. I think that this scripture reflects that.

For me right now many of the desires of my heart are constant and I know that they are from God. Most of these consist of ministry and dreams of the Kingdom. But there are other, more personal desires that are much like the waves of the ocean. They ebb and flow like the tide, and it depends upon the moment as to what I am feeling about them. This is scary because He has told me that He will give me the desires of my heart. He likes me laughing with Him. He wants to give me my desires. My fear is that He will give me what I ask, and it will be wrong. So I am treading lightly, trying not to ask yet. But I know that the time will come when He will ask me. He is giving me so much grace to just live life, but I know the day will come when I will have to state to Him the desires of my heart. Tonight I asked Him if something was going to come to pass. As clear as a bell I instantly heard Him say, “If that’s what you want”. That scared me.

We are almost one third of the way through 2011. This is my year of transition, and changes are already taking place. Some changes are evident, but many have yet to be revealed. But in my heart the shift has already been made. But the year is still early, and I am happy with God. I love to laugh with Him and I love to spend time walking and talking with Him. He will give me the desires of my heart, He told me He would. I just have to have the courage to explore the depths of my heart with Him and determine just what they are.