The Desire of Our Hearts

In our examination of this highly revealing passage of Isaiah's prophecy, we have seen that Isaiah contrasts the City of God and the City of Man. He calls God's city the "strong city" with walls of salvation, and gates that open to allow his righteous people to enter. These people, whose minds are steadfast in their trust in the Lord, God keeps in perfect peace. Yet he will humble the proud and lofty city of man.

Isaiah then turns to the hearts of the people who occupy the different cities, as Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and throughout his teaching, addressed the basic and fundamental issue of the human heart.

For those who belong to God, not only is theirs a heart of trust in God, and a heart guarded in perfect peace, but a heart that is filled with passionate yearning for God. Isaiah says "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. (verses 8-9).

In our hearts there ought to be a fire of passion awakened. There should be deep longing, yearning, desire for God and all that is of Him. It should be a desire for his glory, for his "name and renown," not our own. As the Psalmist wrote "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness" (Psalm 115:1). When we truly and accurately understand how much God has loved us personally, when we understand what Christ did for us personally, when we realize the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts personally, it will happen. It will always happen. There will be such a fire ignited in our hearts that the world, the flesh, and the devil can never extinguish! That is the yearning, the desire, the longing of which Isaiah speaks. It characterizes the heart of those who are truly citizens of the city of God!

How regrettable it is that many who profess the name of Christ have little passion or longing in their hearts for God. Football games, eating out in a restaurant, the stock market, hobbies, or what's going on in politics may become the passion of their hearts and lives, but not the cross. It is these thoughts which fill our minds when we go to bed and when we awaken in the morning, but not the thoughts of God. Shame on us for not preaching the cross so that our hearts may be aflame with a passion for God. Only when we know how desperate we are and how much grace is freely ours, will we be able to identify with Isaiah's description of the hearts of the people of God!