Our Heart's Desire

It was from reading Psalm 37 that first brought me to ponder the meaning of "my heart's desire." The particular verse from Psalm 37 was this:

"Find your delight in the Lord and He will give you your hearts desire."

My first reaction was something like, "Awesome! I really desire to win 150 million dollars in the lottery this week. How pathetic.

We could all come up with a "Top Ten" list of equally pathetic desires. On the other hand we could also come up with a list that is much more noble. World peace comes to mind as does an end to hunger.

But don't think that our Father is like a genie in a bottle magically granting every wish that comes to mind, good or bad, just because we desire it.

This is Sacred Scripture and its meaning is much more sublime. God is not about to grant us things that are not in our best interest any more than I would give my own children something foolish just because the desire it. Instead, He replaces our vain, self-centered, immoral desires, what Saint Paul calls "rubbish" (Philippians 3:8) and gives us a NEW desire - Himself.

The most astounding thing about it is we don't even miss those old desires very much because we have been filled with such a precious new one.

This new desire is a gift from the Lord and like every gift from Him it is for our benefit. As we hear in scripture, "if your hearts desire is with Him, he will be near you." (2 Chronicles 15:2)

We need to be near the Lord. We must have union with Him - communion with Him who is the very source of our being. Few have said it better than Saint Augustine in this prayer: "You have created us for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."