“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4 NIV
Which side of the comma are you living in?
Take delight in the Lord,
or
And he will give you the desires of your heart?
Delight, desires.
What you focus on determines how you experience Him.
When you are focusing your life on delighting (joy, great enjoyment, and pleasure) in the Lord, the world seems like a wide open space for you to experience with someone you love.
When you focus on the desires of your heart, the world seems a small closed space in which you can only see what you don’t have and experience and envy what everyone else seems to have.
I’ve learned that my desires are not good taskmasters but they do make great idols. They also make flawed foundations for a relationship with God or anyone else.
I’m not saying that your desires are bad, in fact, I believe that the Lord puts loads of good desires in your heart: the desire to love and be loved, to connect and be connected to, to cherish and to be cherished. What I am saying is that if the focus of your life is getting your desires met that you will be miserable and probably not even know why.
Living on the delight side of the comma means that your focus is on your relationship with God and being delighted in Him, by Him and with Him and trusting Him with the rest.
There is sweet freedom found in delighting in your relationship with God while letting Him hold all your desires to do what He may. He is a good Father and knows you more than you know yourself.
How are you delighting yourself in the Lord?
What is making you miserable?
What side of the comma are you living on?