Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4) I grew up thinking that because I believe in God, I go to church, and I pray to Him, that means He should give me all that my heart desires. I would get frustrated and doubtful because those things didn’t happen. It took me a long, long time to understand what this verse actually means.

God Himself told us the way of this a long time ago: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) Jesus called this the greatest commandment. Commandment! It’s not a request or suggestion. We are born and bred to be lovers of the Lord God. He made us for that purpose because He loves us back. This is a decision on our part. We must chose to love God fully. That’s not the same thing as believing in Him, or trusting that He will answer prayers. It’s about seeing Him as the wonderful, lovely, awesome Father that He is. It’s dreaming about Him like David did, wanting to know Him more and more.

When we stop looking at what we want and turn our attention to Him, He’s happy to bless us with our heart’s desire. Then it becomes icing on the cake. Delight in God is it’s own reward.