The desires of your heart

"May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfil all your plans!" - Psalm 20v4


The desires of your heart? These are things of tales and dreams not of the real world we live in. You can read in books of people being promised the desires of their heart but rarely does this go like they hope it will. For most of us in the real world the desires of our hearts seem a long way away and the means of getting them seems remote.


Psalm 20 is a great Psalm looking at dependence on God. In it we see all these 'May he' statements about God in which David is praying that God will do many things. So may he protect you, remember you, support you etc. These are things I thing we find it less hard to believe he will. When things are difficult we often pray out to God for relief but the desires of our heart? These don't seem like the kind of things God can do or is interested in.


No, I get the desires of my heart by...
Winning the lottery
Getting that promotion
Getting married
Having Kids
Paying off the mortgage


That's so often where I think I get the desires of my heart. God might be good at saving me in a crisis. He might be ok at relieving suffering but granting the desires of my heart that's not what he does. Except in Psalm 20 David prays that he will and then in Psalm 21 we get the answer.
"You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips." - Psalm 21 v2


If only we believed this? If only we believed that God would give us the desires of our heart maybe then we'd stop dreaming of the lottery win. Maybe then we'd stop pursuing any and every relationship. Maybe then we'd stop planning our 20 stage route to the desires of our heart and instead we would pursue knowing, loving and depending on God.