One Heart
by Richard Hemery
I was reading Psalm 20 verse 4, when I realised I had misread a verse. I had read, 'May he give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.' But actually it says 'May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.' Maybe we are used to saying 'our heart’s desires', but the Bible, here and elsewhere, tells us our heart can only have one desire. If we have another desire, it supplants the first desire in our hearts.
Jesus says the same thing in Luke 16:13 - 'No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.' The object of our service, our affection, where our heart really lies, cannot be divided. Jesus uses the example of money, but it can be extended to other things too.
As He says in Matthew 6:21, 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' Whatever is foremost in your life, the thing you treasure, this will attract your heart like a magnet.
The other half of verse 4 of Psalm 20 is ‘and makes all your plans succeed.' The second part of the next verse is 'May the LORD grant all your requests.' It is not wrong to have many plans and many requests, but we can only have one desire in our hearts. Let it be the Lord.
Prayer: Please Lord, make my heart serve you only. Give me grace to make You the desire of my heart. Be my treasure Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.
Richard Hemery was born in Surrey, United Kingdom and studied archaeology and ancient history at University. He has been a Christian for 20 years and has been part of the Ellel Ministries team at Pierrepont since 2001 working as the bookshop manager.
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