Your Heart's Desire
Psalm 21 Reveals God's Heart for Your Heart
How the king rejoices in your strength, O LORD!
He shouts with joy because You give him victory.
For You have given him his heart's desire;
You have withheld nothing he requested.
Psalm 21:1-4 NLT
As Psalm 21 opens, we are suddenly transported into King David's prayer and worship chamber while he shares his exultation in God's mighty works on his behalf. We desperately want to experience what he has: that the Mighty God has given us our heart's desire, and has withheld nothing we have requested.
Interestingly, Psalm 21:4 is a fulfillment of a promise in Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." As added confirmation, we have Psalm 84:11: "No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."
Who Gets to Claim the Promise?
David is the "king" in this psalm, written to be sung by all believers. However, it has layers of deeper meaning: Jesus is Himself the King of Kings to whom God shows favor by giving Him victory over death and enemies, and by giving Jesus His heart's desire: us!
The good news doesn't end there. WE are called kings and priests by God by virtue of Jesus' work on the cross (Revelation 1:6; 5:10; Exodus 19:6)! Because of our relationship with Jesus, we, too can claim fulfillment of our hearts' desires!
How Do We Get to This Place?
We can (and must) apply this promise by aligning our will with God's will. The closer we get to God, the more our desires change from temporal to eternal. We start caring about what God cares about--things that make a difference for our eternal souls. When we pray for something God already wants to do, then both of our desires are met!
What Are God's Desires?
Do you notice that we are utterly helpless to do all of these things on our own? To us, they are merely desires, because we cannot accomplish any of these in our own strength. And yet, without these things, our souls feel empty. We are up the proverbial creek without a proverbial paddle!
What Are Your Desires?
What is it that, at the end of the day, you really want?
Some of my single girlfriends and I had lunch recently, and we talked about the desire for a spouse. I related my own experience of having some serious conversations with God about His creating me with a desire to be married. This was His desire for me as well, but there was a span of time when my single-ness seemed unbearable. While I waited for God to act (rather impatiently, I might add!), He was busy doing a healing work in my heart, growing me into the woman He created me to be. This took time. Lots more time than I wanted it to take (and He's still not finished!). At the same time, God was preparing the man who would become my husband. When God brought the two of us together, we both realized that we would have made wrong choices if it had happened any sooner. God waited until the perfect time to bring His desires and our desires together, and we knew He was the one doing the work. It was SO worth the wait!
No Good Thing Withheld
It's really, really important that we ask for faith to believe in God's goodness toward us, because life doesn't always feel good. There's no way we can simply "believe" or "trust" without the Holy Spirit's help. Friend, it's just too hard to go alone! Whatever comes into your life or mine, God truly means it for good, even though we can't see it now. I can tell you from experience that God has not kept any good thing from me. He has kept things from me that were NOT good at the time, either for the purpose of my safety or well-being. Some things are withheld until they become good for you! God is good, and gives good things. If you're having trouble hanging onto this truth, ask God to help you to see and believe--this is God's desire for you, and He will accomplish it!
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©2022 Julianne Knapp. First Published 12.6.22
How the king rejoices in your strength, O LORD!
He shouts with joy because You give him victory.
For You have given him his heart's desire;
You have withheld nothing he requested.
Psalm 21:1-4 NLT
As Psalm 21 opens, we are suddenly transported into King David's prayer and worship chamber while he shares his exultation in God's mighty works on his behalf. We desperately want to experience what he has: that the Mighty God has given us our heart's desire, and has withheld nothing we have requested.
Interestingly, Psalm 21:4 is a fulfillment of a promise in Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." As added confirmation, we have Psalm 84:11: "No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."
Who Gets to Claim the Promise?
David is the "king" in this psalm, written to be sung by all believers. However, it has layers of deeper meaning: Jesus is Himself the King of Kings to whom God shows favor by giving Him victory over death and enemies, and by giving Jesus His heart's desire: us!
The good news doesn't end there. WE are called kings and priests by God by virtue of Jesus' work on the cross (Revelation 1:6; 5:10; Exodus 19:6)! Because of our relationship with Jesus, we, too can claim fulfillment of our hearts' desires!
How Do We Get to This Place?
We can (and must) apply this promise by aligning our will with God's will. The closer we get to God, the more our desires change from temporal to eternal. We start caring about what God cares about--things that make a difference for our eternal souls. When we pray for something God already wants to do, then both of our desires are met!
What Are God's Desires?
- God wants people to repent and believe (2 Peter 3:9)
- God wants us to be forgiving of others (Matthew 6:14-15)
- God wants to save people (Romans 10:1)
- God wants our faith to grow (Colossians 1:9-12)
- God wants us to trust Him (Proverb 3:5-6)
- God wants us to be free of fear (Isaiah 41:10)
Do you notice that we are utterly helpless to do all of these things on our own? To us, they are merely desires, because we cannot accomplish any of these in our own strength. And yet, without these things, our souls feel empty. We are up the proverbial creek without a proverbial paddle!
What Are Your Desires?
What is it that, at the end of the day, you really want?
- Safety
- Basic needs
- Healthy relationships
- Less stress
- As you acknowledge His presence in your life, watch for all the ways in which God keeps you safe – physically, spiritually, mentally, or emotionally. Make a note of what your experience.
- For every day that your basic needs are met, recognize that God has again shown His loving care over you.
- Pray for wisdom in your relationships, and see who God adds to your life and who He removes.
- As you depend on God instead of yourself, notice your anxiety level decrease.
- When you can't forgive someone, and ask God for help to do this, notice how your heart softens toward forgiveness.
- When you're willing to allow God to work on your loved ones, and you take a step back to let Him do His work, wait and see the result. Warning: it may look worse before it gets better, but remember who your sovereign Father is!
Some of my single girlfriends and I had lunch recently, and we talked about the desire for a spouse. I related my own experience of having some serious conversations with God about His creating me with a desire to be married. This was His desire for me as well, but there was a span of time when my single-ness seemed unbearable. While I waited for God to act (rather impatiently, I might add!), He was busy doing a healing work in my heart, growing me into the woman He created me to be. This took time. Lots more time than I wanted it to take (and He's still not finished!). At the same time, God was preparing the man who would become my husband. When God brought the two of us together, we both realized that we would have made wrong choices if it had happened any sooner. God waited until the perfect time to bring His desires and our desires together, and we knew He was the one doing the work. It was SO worth the wait!
No Good Thing Withheld
It's really, really important that we ask for faith to believe in God's goodness toward us, because life doesn't always feel good. There's no way we can simply "believe" or "trust" without the Holy Spirit's help. Friend, it's just too hard to go alone! Whatever comes into your life or mine, God truly means it for good, even though we can't see it now. I can tell you from experience that God has not kept any good thing from me. He has kept things from me that were NOT good at the time, either for the purpose of my safety or well-being. Some things are withheld until they become good for you! God is good, and gives good things. If you're having trouble hanging onto this truth, ask God to help you to see and believe--this is God's desire for you, and He will accomplish it!
Subscribe to free weekly articles in your inbox HERE; your information will never be shared. :-)
©2022 Julianne Knapp. First Published 12.6.22