December 16, 2021 “My Christmas List”

Angela Finet, the devotional author, sucked me in right away today with her reference to the childhood thrill of the Sears Wish Book arrival. I used to dream over the pages, as she did, and turn down the page corners to highlight items I wished for.

I shake my head when I ponder what frivolous or fantastic requests I would have made as a young adult if given the offer Solomon was, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (v.7). I’m fairly certain that “wisdom to help others” would not have been my first choice.

These days, I don’t need a printed catalog. The shopping world comes to my eyes in animated “living color” every time I turn on the computer. How can a modern person like me, living in a consumer-driven materialistic culture, connect to Solomon’s story? Finet’s conclusion for this entry really helped me make that connection: “When our desires align with God’s, the gifts we receive go far beyond what we could have asked for, beyond what we could have even imagined. . . .”

The concept of aligning our desires with God’s reminds me of one of my favorite verses, Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” I think that means that if we are delighting in the Lord, we are aligning our will to His. Eventually, the desires of our hearts will become the same as His desires for us. Then, when God’s will is worked out in our lives, we “get what we want” because we are wanting what He wants, the right things. Isn’t it great when everything turns out with a happy ending?

Finet takes my interpretation a step further, defining the gifts we will receive when we are aligned with God’s desires–”We receive joy. We receive peace.” Aren’t they awesome gifts!?