Our Desires

“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. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” Prov. 37:3-5

A great deal has been said and written on this passage. Many take one line from this beautiful passage and lift it to the Father as an entitlement. ‘You said this…so give it to me!’ Our Father will apply this passage to each of our lives based upon certain realities. We must put our desires to the test with four basic questions. Does my desire align with God’s will? Is my desire good for me? Is my motivation for this desire pure and good? Will God’s purpose and plan for my life be accomplished from this desire?

I have told the story many times of how I secretly mounted a debt of thousands of dollars many years ago. At the time, Bruce had an opportunity for his company to win a bid in Australia which would provide a chunk of money. I prayed and prayed that this bid would be won which would give our household the money to pay off this secret debt but would require our family moving there. I was in such despair about my secret I lost sight of what was good for the whole of the family. God gave me a ‘divine rejection’ by the company not winning the bid. Within one year the company who did win the bid was displaced and the people were sent back to the states without much future. God was well aware that not only was this not His will but my motivation for this desire was nowhere near pure. He knew this would not serve as a means for accomplishing the purpose He had for me and my family.

I will never forget how fortunate I was to receive God’s divine rejection.