Find your delight in the Lord

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 ESV

As I scrolled through Facebook yesterday morning looking to see which of my friends was running the Boston Marathon on what’s referred to by runners as Marathon Monday, I had to smile at the memory that popped up on my feed. In 2016, I was blessed to not only have run this iconic 26.2 mile for the third time but was greeted by my son Luke (who had just graduated high school) at the finish line. “Oh my,” I thought to myself as I smiled and stared at the photo of this young man and myself standing in the middle of Boylston Street. “So much has changed since then. My little boy is now grown up and out of the house. I have switched from marathons to ultra marathons and my yearning to run Boston (which was once the desire of my heart) ever again has been replaced by a longing to run 50 and 100 mile distances. Smiling even bigger at this realization I prayed silently, “Lord, thank You for all that you have done in my life and for all the finish lines you’ve allowed me to cross that were the desire of my heart. I want nothing more in this life than to know You with my whole being and to serve You with my whole life Lord. All of my joy and happiness is found in You and I pray that the desires of my heart will always align with Yours.”

And you know, delighting ourselves in the Lord and praying that the desires of our hearts would align with His is something every believer should strive to do. You see, when you and I find our greatest pleasure in God, we will want nothing more than to be with Him and to please Him. We will continually seek His presence and will find our hearts and desires changed, steadily aligning with God's own good desires for our lives. This means that the key to a happy and satisfied life is not in acquiring the things of this world or following our fleshly desires but finding delight in God and pursuing the perfect plan He has for our lives.

So if you’re struggling with the question, “I have everything I want so why am I not happy?” today, consider this my friend. There is no true happiness apart from God. People and possessions can’t provide it and power, prestige, and pursuits can’t supply it. Seek His presence and you’ll soon find everything You need is, was and always will be found in Him.

Heavenly Father, thank You for being our all-in-all and everything we could ever need. Help us to understand that we will never have the true happiness, contentment, peace, and satisfaction our hearts crave apart from You. It’s in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.

Happy Running!!!