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August 10th, 2023
Scripture
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. – Psalm 37:4 NLT
Devotion
There are times when Christians relate to God as if He were nothing more than a servant of their desires and wishes. God is God for them when He satisfies what they want and when they want it. They go about their lives doing whatever it is they feel like doing and they expect God to validate their decisions by blessing whatever it is they are trying to accomplish. It never occurs to them that God may have plans of His own. It never occurs to them that God may have plans for them.
Such Christians, however, are immature in the faith. They still have it backwards. God is the Sovereign Lord and King of the universe. We are His servants and not the other way around. Our job is not to get God on board our projects, but to get on board His projects. Our job is to set aside the desires of our sinful nature and find out what He wants. We should be praying for the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit rather than praying for the Lord to bless the direction and leading we have already embarked upon.
It is true, as says our verse for today, that God will give us our heart’s desires. But there is one stipulation: we must take delight in the Lord. What does it mean to take delight in the Lord? It means that we love the Lord for who He is and for what He is all about. It means that we like the commands, plans, and purposes of God. It means that we are willing to exchange our own desires for the desires of the Lord. God is willing to give us the desires of our heart if those desires have been conformed to His plans and purposes for us.
Today, before you go about your business, ask God to show you what He desires for the day. Matthew 6:33 tells us that we should seek first the Kingdom of God, not that we should seek first our own kingdom.
God will give us our heart’s desires when we have a heart for God.
Inspirational Image of the Day
