This was posted on The Round Farmhouse Ministries blog on Tuesday, August 13th. So thankful to be writing as part of this month-long series about Proverbs.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 ESV

Whenever I read the word “desire” in Scripture my mind wanders to a place just shy of guilt, possibly because there’s a conflict in my heart between things I want and things I desire. The things I want I can really do without. But the things I desire are things I strive for, think about constantly, and am willing to change my life for.

Three verses mention desire in Proverbs 13:

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

“A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.” (Proverbs 13:19)

“From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.” (Proverbs 13:2)

These verses describe desire in two different ways: desire for good and desire for evil.

The question is, what do we desire? How to we make sure we are desiring the right things? We read about desire as early as Genesis, both in Eden (Genesis 3:6,16) and in the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:7). Both situations show desire as being troublesome and a stumbling block to humanity. Still true today, no?

Then what are the desires we read about in Proverbs, desires that are “a tree of life” and “sweet to the soul”? We are to desire God, His Word, and a holy fear of Him (Psalm 19:7-11; Psalm 73:25). And how do we make these desires our desires? We “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

How do we make sure the desires of our hearts align with God’s plan and design for us?

We pray. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

We stand in awe of Him with holy fear. “He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them” (Psalm 145:19).

We remember His promises and blessings. “In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul” (Isaiah 26:8).

We recognize the mortal desires of the flesh. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17).

We resist those mortal desires. “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it” (1 Peter 3:10-11).

And we rely on God’s promise to align our hearts with His plan and design for us. What a mighty God we serve!