Psalm 37:4: How to Get What You Want

Psalm 37:4.. "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

The above verse is one that I cling to almost daily because its promise is so beautiful. Let us look at it carefully today as we consider following question: How do we get what we want?

Each of us wants something. Whether the thing (or things) that we want is something good or bad, that is for you to judge. However, God has built the human heart to have desires, cravings, and longings. No human being doesn't want. Everyone desires. Everyone craves. We were made to desire--we were made to worship.

Therefore, the question is not "do you want something?" but rather "what do you want?" So, what do you want? If I were able to see all of your thoughts over the past 24 hours, what did you think about the most? Ultimately, that is the thing (or one of the things) you want. What do you first think of when you wake up in the morning? What is the last thing you think about before you go to bed? What makes you angry when you do not obtain it? What makes you anxious when it doesn't come your way? These, all of the answers to those questions, are the things that you want, whether you like it or not.

So, how do we obtain those things? Many of the things that you want aren't bad. A desire for sleep isn't a bad thing. Even a desire to be freed from physical pain or emotional heartache certainly isn't an evil desire. But how do we obtain what we want?

The solution is found in Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Hmmm. Interesting. Notice what this verse is teaching; we must not change anything but our desires in order to get what we want. In other words, if we want to get what we want, we must want the things that God wants to give us.

Let me give you an analogy. A toddler desires to have a piece of candy, but his father does not want to give it to him because he knows that it would not be good for his health. The toddler has two options: he can either cry and make a fit, or he can change his desires to desire what his father wants for him, though he might not understand it in the present.

Ultimately, our situation with God is the same as the above analogy. We are the toddlers desiring something that is bad for our health, and our Heavenly Father often chooses not to give us what we desire for our own benefit. Once again, not all of our desires are bad. But a good desire becomes a bad desire when we do not trust God in not fulfilling it. Oftentimes God will not fulfill even our good desires (such as deliverance from suffering) because he is in the process of sanctifying us. Surely God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and his ways higher than our ways.

So, in the end, the only way to get what you want is to change what you want. The solution to getting what you want is not praying for it harder, obeying the Lord more, or doing the work to obtain it on your own. The solution to getting what you want is changing what you want to what God wants for you.

However: notice the promise here. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." In other words, if you desire what the Lord desires for you, you will always be content. You will never be lacking if you desire what God gives to you, because God will always give you what he wants to give you.

So, stop wanting the things that you want and start wanting the things of God. Stop striving to obtain something that God does not want to give you, and trust that his way is best. Stop desiring comfort, and start desiring sanctification. Surely you will be better off if you do so.

Oh, and don't be a whining toddler...