Desires of your heart?

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:3-4)

I have been thinking some on these verses for the last few days.

I ran into someone the other day that was basically trying to use these verses to support the notion of a "prosperity gospel". You know the whole Gospel of “God wants you to be stinking rich, God wants you to donate now and I…oops I mean you will receive a blessing. Salvation can be yours if you donate $19.95 now”. Sorry for the sarcasm but these con artists just really make me irritated.

The Bible has a lot to say about money and most of it is not positive. The Bible more often than not suggests that riches will lead you astray and I have seen it happen in the lives of many people. They get “rich” and their “stuff” quickly becomes their idol and they stop serving God and start being filled with greed and mammon worship.

“And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:24-25)

Doesn’t seem to bode so well for the so called “prophets of God” that live in huge homes and drive expensive foreign cars to eat out at the finest places in town now does it?

I started thinking about all of this and to me, people who would try to abuse the verses from Psalm 37 in this way just miss it. They are trying to twist God’s word to justify their greed and covertness.

As my pastor put it one time the truth is, "If you are walking with Jesus you might not always have everything you want but you will have everything you need."

So where do the “prosperity gospel” teachers really miss the point?

If I am really delighting myself in the Lord, really walking close with Jesus, and really seeking after Him in an earnest way...won't the desires of my heart change to be in line with His desires?

His desires are that I would seek first the Kingdom of God, not fame or fortune or stuff on this earth. The Bible tells us these things will rust away and instead we should be storing up treasures in Heaven by working to advance God’s Kingdom through sharing the true Gospel with others.

I have noticed that the more I have walked with Jesus in a real relationship the more my desires would change from wanting the new shiny sports car and the high power job to a desire to make a sacrifice or two so that my kids grow up with an actively involved parent who is diligent in teaching them about the Lord.

Or perhaps the savings account won't be as important as supporting ministries that go out and reach a lost soul. Maybe that hobby wouldn't be as important as spending time in fellowship with the Lord and seeking Him via prayer and study of the Word.

When I started thinking this way I suddenly "got it".

Some due to the lustful desires in their hearts skip right over the "delight yourself in the Lord" part and only read about Him giving us the desires of our hearts.

I can't imagine who would want to trust their carnal heart / mind to lead them regarding what they desire

"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

It’s funny to me how we can lust after something and then if we aren't careful we start trying to spin things for it to be God's will for our lives even though often Scripture will say exactly the opposite isn't it?