God's desire, Our desire

The possibility that God's desires for us will correspond to our own deepest desires is a new thought for many people. But if we assume that God's will is something we will not

like, then we'll be tempted to look for happiness on our own. David Benner writes about this in Sacred Companions:

Ignatius of Loyola suggests that sin is ultimately a refusal to believe that what God wants is my happiness and fulfillment. When I fail to believe this, 1 am tempted to sin—to take my life into my own hands, assuming that I am in the best position to determine what will lead to my happiness. As I become convinced that God wants nothing more than my fulfillment, surrender to his will is increasingly possible.

The possibility that I will actually enjoy what God wants for me is radically different from my own infant-believer understanding of God's will. But it is a very biblical concept. The psalmist David wrote, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). My heart's desires, then, are from God. In fact, the desires of my heart may actually reveal the will of God. (Fryling 2009, 111)