Day Five: What is it that Christ desires?

Scripture: Psalm 21:2

Principle: God wants to give you your desires.

I know, I know! You have heard it before; God wants to give me the desires of my heart. But do you believe it? Most of us might say we believe it but, deep down inside we don’t believe it’s true. Our experiences have proven the contrary. We all have unfulfilled desires and we’ve prayed and prayed and the answer always seems to be “no”. If God wants to give us the desires of our hearts, then what is stopping him? The answer is nothing. He has already given us the desire of our hearts. The problem is us. We don’t really know what it is that our hearts desire. We think we know, but because our desires have been corrupted by sin, we don’t really know. We pursue the things of this world and when we get them, we aren’t really satisfied. Why? Because what we thought was our desire wasn’t really the true desire of our hearts. The real and true desire of our heart is God and he has already given himself to us.

Since Christ is our example, let’s look at what it was that Christ desired and how God gave him his heart’s desire. In John 4, Jesus encounters the woman at the well. While traveling Jesus becomes tired, thirsty and hungry. All no doubt leading him to have desires to drink, eat and rest. He sends his disciples into town to buy some food. While they are away he has a conversation with a Samaritan woman who comes to get water from the well. The woman believes in Jesus and tells everyone in town about her encounter. When his disciples return with food, Jesus is too busy ministering to the people that he doesn’t have time to eat.

“Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:31–34, ESV)

Jesus’ answer to his disciples reveals what he desires. He desires to do the will of God the father. He desires to do his will more than satisfy his hunger. He desires to do God’s will more than gaining fame, worldly wealth or power.

Jesus desired to do the will of God so much that even when it was God’s will that he be crucified, he submitted. The sanctified desire is a desire to do the will of God and when your desire is to do the will of God, He will give you your heart’s desire.

Application: Can you say with Isaac Ambrose,

“My thirst cannot be quenched, and my desire for Jesus is as greedy as the grave, with coals of fire and the hottest flame.”14

Pray today that God would give you a desire for Him which surpasses all other desires.

14  Isaac Ambrose, “Is My Name Written on God’s Heart?,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 25.