Deep Desires

1 Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
² For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.

Psalms 37:1-6

Years ago the Lord revealed to me that verse 4 within this passage was way more than just God being some kind of wish-granting star in the heavens, giving us anything and everything we lusted after, for He is far more than just the blessings that come from His hand. Think of verse 4 this way: He has planted within us the desires themselves, and as we draw near to Him, He also then fulfills the desires He Himself has planted. Desires that came from His heart long before we were ever born, with each individual in mind when we were created by Him.

If you read this passage in context with surrounding verses, the Lord is being incredibly tender towards us. Verse 3 encourages us to cultivate faithfulness. I think verse 4 then gives a bit of a clue on how exactly we can do that. The Hebrew word for delight, עָנַג (or translated “anog”), means to be soft, delicate, dainty. I see this as His way of saying “be tender in your relationship with Me”. Cultivating faithfulness then becomes all about maintaining a tenderness, or cultivating intimacy, with our Creator – the very one who designed us to be who we are and knows us best. I had a friend once tell me that intimacy was “in to me, see”. We can be real with God, lay it all out. He is not taken aback by our feelings or any of our most secret thoughts.

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."  John 15:5 NASB

So what happens when we cultivate this intimacy? Like vine branches that intertwine with one another, our will is intertwined so deeply into His will that the only way our hearts can truly be satisfied is when we are found in Him. There are deep longings we have that He planted and that only He can fulfill, and until we begin this journey of discovery with Him in understanding what is His will for our lives, there will always be parts of us that remain unfulfilled. So if you have ever wondered what the Lord’s will for your life is, it is hidden in Him and the only way we will find it is to seek Him.

"When You said, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You,
'Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.'” - Psalms 27:8 NASB

"At each and every sunrise you will hear my voice
    as I prepare my sacrifice of prayer to you.
    Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar
    and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart." Psalms 5:3 TPT

"There’s a private place reserved for the devoted lovers of Yahweh, where they sit near him and receive the revelation-secrets of his promises." Psalms 25:14 TPT

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning;Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.    - Lamentations 3:22-25 NASB

Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”  - Mark 12:29-31 NASB

If these passages give you any clue, I hope you are encouraged to seek Him with all your heart. The deep longings and desires you struggle with may have been planted in you by Him. There are also desires you will never know were there until your will becomes intertwined with His. One more beautiful point I might add is there are also certain planted desires you can only accomplish together with others, so try not to cheat yourself out of connectedness and relationship.

Be blessed!