>
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
Psalm 37:4-5 (ESV)N.T. Wright:
"Delight in God is not a technique for getting what you want. It is the slow transformation of what you want, so that you discover, with shock and gratitude, that the deepest desires of your heart were always pointing toward God himself -- and that he was already giving them to you in ways you hadn't recognized."
A.W. Tozer:
"The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having found the Source of all things, he has the One of whom they are only reflections."
Gregory of Nyssa, *On the Soul and the Resurrection*:
"The soul that has been stripped of its earthly passions and has laid aside the heavy burden of the body's weight rises naturally toward the divine. For just as heavy bodies, when released, fall downward by their own nature, so too the soul, freed from what weighs it down, rises toward the beautiful and the good -- toward God himself, who is the source and end of all longing."
Thomas à Kempis, *The Imitation of Christ*:
"If you wish to know and learn something truly useful, seek to be unknown, to be little esteemed, and to be regarded as nothing. The highest and most profitable lesson is this: to know and truly perceive that we are nothing. To think nothing of oneself and always to think well and highly of others is great wisdom and great perfection. If you should see another person openly doing wrong or committing some grave sin, you ought not to consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you will persevere in good. We are all frail; but consider none more frail than yourself."
What if the desire you keep asking God to fulfill is actually the very thing He is using to draw you closer to Himself?
Cicero, *De Officiis*, Book I:
"No phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life. The knowledge of such duties is what constitutes moral wisdom -- and it is this wisdom which teaches us so to worship the gods and to show kindness to men, that we may preserve the bond of human society."
St Clair, MI: Sunny +47°F Humidity:87% Wind:→7mph