W A T A R I (2018), public domain
If you’re a Christian, you may have heard that God has promised to give you the desires of your heart. That sounds amazing, doesn’t it?! Indeed, this quip has been used to justify both questionable actions and bad theology.
In this article, we will look at this phrase in its context, because context matters. When we learn to read the Bible properly—and not merely as a collection of one-liners and sound bites—we’ll find that some of the most famous passages take on different and deeper meanings than we’ve thought.
A Conditional Promise
We should begin with the most obvious fact. The phrase “he will give you the desires of your heart” is only half of a verse. Plucked clean and held up in the wind, this seems like an unconditional promise. But we must consider the entire verse!
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
That’s a harder pill to swallow. It’s a conditional promise—if you delight yourself in the Lord, then he will give you the desires of your heart. In the immediate context, this is powerful. If we desire God, he will give us our desires, which must include him!
But there’s more here. The first two verses of the psalm are an exhortation not to be envious of the wicked, “for they will soon fade like the grass.” Then verses 2–6 exhibit a pattern, as the reader is urged to love the Lord in various ways and he promises to respond and act. The parallel structure of these verses helps us understand what it means to “delight yourself in the Lord” and what it means that God “will give you the desires of your heart.”
Followers of God should “trust in the Lord and do good” (verse 3), “commit [their] way to the Lord” (5), and “trust in him” (5). Then God will grant them to “dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness” (3), “he will act” (5), and “he will bring forth [their] righteousness as the light, and [their] justice as the noonday” (6). Notice the circular pattern here—the more we commit our ways to God and trust in him, the more he will give us growth in righteousness, which leads to more trust in God.
The Larger Picture
The entire psalm is repetitive but instructive. The wicked will fade away and perish, but the righteous will inherit the land. David’s reference to “the land” throughout this psalm picks up on God’s covenant promise, dating back to the days of Abraham, to dwell with his people in their own land.
David goes on to describe the ways people pledge themselves to the Lord and the ways he cares for them.
How do the righteous act? They do not envy the wicked (verse 1); they are still before the Lord and wait for him (7); they do not worry about the ways the wicked prosper (7); they cease from anger and wrath (8); they wait for the Lord (9); they are meek (11); they are generous and giving (21); they delight in God’s way (23); they lend generously (26); they turn away from evil and do good (27); they speak wisdom and justice (30); they keep the law of God in their hearts (31); they wait for the Lord and keep his way (34); they are people of peace (37); and they take refuge in the Lord (40). These actions go along with delighting oneself in the Lord.
Now, how does God care for those that honor him? He will give them the land (9); he will give them land and abundant peace (11); he will turn back the plots of the wicked (15); he upholds them (17); he knows their days and their heritage will remain forever (18); he does not put them to shame in evil times (19); they have abundance in the days of famine (19); he will give them the land (22); he upholds their hand (24); he will not forsake them (28); they will dwell in the land forever (29); he will not allow them to be condemned when brought to trial (33); he will exalt them to inherit the land (34); he gives them salvation (39); he is their stronghold in troubled times (39); and he helps them, delivers them, and saves them (40). These blessings go along with receiving the desires of our hearts.
Conclusion
We cannot say that God will give us the desires of our hearts. If we delight in him, he will change our desires so that they glorify him, and he will satisfy those desires. He will even give us himself.
Psalm 37 is not the only place in the Bible that we see this glorious truth, but we can see it here if we read carefully. A sugary half-truth is no match for the deep, brilliant promises of God.
Context matters.
For more examples of why context matters, click here.
Thank you for this! I will share this with a group of women I am meeting with.
I do believe this is a full truth. Let’s look at King David who delighted himself in the Lord above most, if not all people in Israel at the time. God gave him the kingdom with treasures, and children, and promised to bring forth the Messiah from him Who would rule forever. Let’s look at 2nd Samuel 12:7-9 to what God said to David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. ‘I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!
God gave David the desires of his heart and more because he delighted in God. It is the same for us! However, God does NOT grant us the ‘lusts’ of our heart! If we ask for things just to fufill bodily, or material lusts-these will not be granted. If you delight yourself in the LORD, he will grant you a good spouse provided that is one right for you and a Christian and your desire is not ‘sex based’. The desires of our heart must be good and good for us for them to be granted. God does NOT promise us a new car even though the one we have may have some rust. If it gets you from point A to point B safely then that is enough. Same with a home. God is not a heavenly candy shop. He will only give you what is good for you. If you delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart and even more, and that is a promise. This verse should not be toned down or re-explained to say something it does not. It is a verbatim promise, but you must fulfill your part.
What I do not like is when people say that God is only about glorifying HImself in all of our good and bad situations.
That simply is NOT true!
That makes it sound like God is only about Himself in the midst of all our suffering.
Romans 8:28 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
God is working things for OUR good whether it is good or bad.
God also glorified US in Jesus Christ!
Romams 8:30 ‘and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.’
He glorified us so we could have a love relationship with Him and live forever in His Kingdom!
John 3:16- ‘For God so love the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
God is as much about or more about us than Himself, because He is love, and love is NOT selfish, so people need to stop saying that God is only interested in glorifying Himself because that is NOT true!
Hi David,
I absolutely LOVED your retort back to the publishers of “Context Matters.” God bless you for that.
You wrote that back on 9/11/19. It’s now 4/17/21. I just now saw this page. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to find it.
To be honest, I didn’t find it. The Holy Spirit put it on my computer while I was gone to the kitchen to get some cheese and crackers. I came back and this page was open. I had never heard of knowableword.com before.
I admit before I went to the kitchen, I had searched for that particular Scripture, “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart,” and there was this web site.
The next thing I knew I was reading your comments. I wholeheartedly agree with you on every count. David said those words and it is true that He gave David the desires of his heart and much more.
God does the same for us if we ask Him. We just have to remember to ask in the right way with a very humble heart.
Thank you so much, David, for your comments and the awesome feedback you presented. It is refreshing to see someone go to the lengths and depths to which you did with making your very valid and true retort. God bless you.
Warmest regards.
God bless you, I love the way you explained every verse. That just what I needed to hear thank you.
For One, I have lived this and it’ simply not true. I have delighted myself wholly and fully in God to where He was THE pre-eminent most important thing in my life and the desire I had, He didn’t fulfill. He did not change it, and He did not fulfill it. He did the opposite. Also….if He changes it, where does free will go? We’re just little robots at that point that want what the Master says.
In your time he has yet to do it. It’s all in his time not ours. He holds our future. Everything works together for our good when we love God and wait on him. If things haven’t gone as you’ve desired perhaps you stepped out of his will and moved in your time not his. God Bless.
I have never understood why some people feel that God is ” generally ok” for people to.have problem after.problem as long as it glorifies him. I think that there can.be much glorification in, for example, acquiring a nice house, finding an appropriate companion, having business success, etc. I could protector some time about this.
The problem with your explanation is that there is no scale for measuring “delighting in the Lord”. So if you get the desire of your heart then you must of met the requirement. If not then you didn’t. Or…it’s easy for David to write this, he was made king. The rest of us poor slobs are left trying to get to some state of grace that is unknown. If God really wants to give us the desires of our heart he should either do it or not. The “if then” condition seems to be a dodge.