Our true desire is God. Every human wants God. Our desire for belonging is a symptom of our desire to be in intimate relationship with the divine. Our longing for purpose is a symptom of our desire to participate in His Kingdom. Even our desire for sin is a perverted symptom of our desire for fulfillment – namely, thinking we can fulfill said desire through any other device than the source from whence it originates.
In this classic Psalm, the truth of our desire is brought into focus.
There is nothing in heaven we want more than God. We often think of “heaven” as a geographic place where we live in mansions and don’t feel pain. Heaven is the presence of God. There is nothing in “heaven” we truly desire. In fact, a place where we all live in mansions and we don’t feel pain, yet there is no relationship with god, is more readily described as hell.
If we view paradise as anything other than the manifestation of our truest desire, a desire to be in relationship with God, we are a) practicing idolatry and b) just plain wrong.
The same perspective is true of earth. If we put our hope and trust in anything other than God to fulfill our desire, we are off base. Wealth and notoriety are resources to usher us toward our true desire. They are false desires if they are held as ends rather than means.
There is nothing more beautiful than the presence of God. Nothing more true. And as much as we try to fight it, there is nothing we want more. This is our portion, our inheritance. Our prize.
“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
– Psalm 73: 23-26