Your Heart Health: Part 1 - Kerry Shook

 Roller Coaster – Dealing with the Emotional Ups and Downs of Life 

“Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” Psalm 37:4 (NLT)

What are the desires of your heart?  God longs to grant them, but there is a condition with this promise.  Did you see it?  Before He will give you your heart’s desires, the Psalmist, David, says you must first take delight in the LORD.  Do you?  What does it mean to delight in the Lord?  God longs for us to know Him and enjoy His presence forever!  He created you and me for fellowship with Him.  We were made by God and for God.  In fact, our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Him.  He alone makes life worth living.  His presence brings purpose to our lives. Through Christ, we can enter into a loving relationship with God that brings delight to our lives.  When we find our delight in Him, we align our will to His.  Then, His desires become the desires of our hearts as well, just as in a relationship with our spouse.
The first step to a healthy heart is to take delight in the Lord.  It’s easy to delight in someone who loves you unconditionally, who has forgiven you and taken your guilt away!  When we delight in Him, our desires become so much greater than any desire we ever had before.  They become God-size desires!  Desires that only God could fulfill!  As you study this Psalm, you discover the key to a healthy heart.

• For those who suffer from a worried heart, the Psalmist says, “Don’t worry about the wicked…. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” (Vs. 1a;7b) How important is that for the day in which we live!

• For those who suffer from a jealous heart, the Psalmist says, “Don’t … envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither.” (Vs. 1b-2)

• For the hurried heart, He says, “Be still in the presence of the LORD and wait patiently for Him to act.” (Vs. 7a)

• To the angry heart, “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper – it only leads to harm.” (Vs. 8) It’s not surprising that danger is only one letter from anger!

• Finally, to the heavy heart, the Psalmist writes, “The LORD rescues the godly; He is their fortress in times of trouble. The LORD helps them, rescuing them from the wicked, He saves them, and they find shelter in Him.” (Vs. 39, 40)

Does your heart suffer from any one or more of these diseases?  What’s the remedy?  How can we prevent them from destroying our hearts?  Tomorrow, we’ll examine three steps the Psalmists offers to prevent our hearts from being controlled by negative emotions and the all-too-common ups and downs of life.