My family loves the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, and one of our favorite characters is a quirky pirate named Captain Jack Sparrow. Jack is an opportunist who always seems to come out on top despite being called, “the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of” by Admiral James Norrington.
One of Jack’s most prized possessions is his compass that doesn’t point north. Most people consider the compass broken and worthless, but Jack finds it of great value. For instead of pointing north, the compass points the way to whatever its owner wants most in this world. When Jack sets out to find a person, a place or a treasure, he simply pulls out the compass which points him in the right direction.
Navigating with this compass that doesn’t point north works well for Jack until the day that he sets off in search of the key to the “Dead Man’s Chest” which holds the heart of Davy Jones. When he holds up the compass, it spins out of control.
The crew notices Jack’s strange behavior that follows and believes that “something’s got Jack vexed.” The soothsayer, Tia Dalma, suggests that Jack does not know what he really wants or that he knows but is reluctant to claim it for his own.
In another “Pirates of the Caribbean” scene, Jack hands the compass to Elizabeth Swann who wants to find and rescue her love, Will Turner. Jack convinces Elizabeth that in order to find Will, she needs to reach the same destination that he is seeking. When Elizabeth follows her desire with the compass in hand, Jack is set back on course. However, throughout the voyage, when Elizabeth checks the compass, she find the compass pointing back to Jack. This again questions the true desire of the person holding the compass.
This reminds me of how we too can sometimes become confused about our desires and what we truly want or need. There are times when we think we want one thing, but after acquiring it, we find that it wasn’t really what our heart was longing for. We are left as empty as ever.
The human heart can have many desires as there are many things on earth that bring us pleasure. Many of these things were actually given to us by God. However, there is nothing on this earth that can completely satisfy us. Our soul will not find true rest until it rests in God. It is when we delight in Him that we are given the true desires of our hearts. In Him, we find complete contentment, satisfaction and peace.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
This Scripture does not mean that we delight in the Lord in order to get everything we think we want. Rather, when we truly delight ourselves in the Lord, we find peace and fulfillment in Him. As we seek the Lord, His desires become our desires.
God may choose to bless us with many earthly and material treasures which do bring us enjoyment, but those things are only a glimpse of the true satisfaction that is found in eternal treasure. Our hearts’ deepest longings can only be satisfied when we find rest through Jesus. Until we surrender our lives to Him, we will be restless, chasing what we think we desire and always longing for something more.