Delight in the Lord
Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” NIV
Have you ever thought this verse meant that if I take pleasure in the Lord, He’ll give me what I want? It is certainly true, but maybe not quite in the way you thought. When we study the Hebrew, we find it’s not a matter of taking pleasure in or enjoying the Lord so He will give us what we want. In the context of this verse, delight actually means to be pliable or bendable, as well as living in enjoyment of. We are to live in enjoyment of the Lord, while also allowing ourselves to be shaped by Him into the person He created us to be. When we do this, He will give desires into our hearts, though not necessarily what we think we want. Rather, when we delight ourselves in Him in this way, God puts in our hearts the desires that He wants us to have, and then brings them to pass. Follow along as I share a couple of examples from my own life.
I am a pet lover who is very aware of the time and money required for responsible pet ownership. For this reason, after our previous pet died, I didn’t want any more pets. With my father in the nursing home, both sons still at home, one of whom was still homeschooled, I had all the responsibility I could handle – or so I thought. Then began the dreams about having a dog. Emotionally, I really wanted one, but I fought it with all the common sense I could muster over the course of the next year. As the dreams continued, the longing increased, until I finally asked the Lord to remove the desire from me if it were not from Him. He didn’t remove it, only increased it, so we went to the Humane Society and found the special dog God had waiting for us there. Why did God want me to have a dog – another responsibility – at such a tough time in my life? Because He knew what was coming, and also knew the joy and comfort this dog would bring. I didn’t know when we got him that both my sons would leave home within six months of each other, nor just how empty I would feel when my father passed away. God knew best, so He put the desire, the want, in my heart – His desire for me – because I delight in Him. Then He gave me the desire – a dog named Sandy.
God has also worked this verse into me from a different direction, and concerns a desire He wants in every believer’s heart. Many years ago, I knew two women who had a genuine love for Israel and the Jewish people, and prayed for them with great compassion and fervor. While I believed from the Bible that God had a special plan for Israel, I didn’t feel the same things these two women felt. I remember praying many times that the Lord would help me to love the Jews as He does, though seemingly without result. I’ve come to realize, however, that the Lord put that desire in my heart back in the 1980’s as I fellowshipped with Him and delighted in Him and His Word. Over the years, what He worked in me was not the emotional side of it, but a deep certainty that His plan has always been to bless the nation of Israel, and through Israel, to bless the nations of the world. Now I pray with fervor born not of a feeling, though that was what I thought I needed, but born of the Holy Spirit. God put the desire in me in the first place, and then brought it to pass in the way that was for me, which was different than the way He worked it out in the two women whom I desired to emulate.
As you consider these two examples, as well as specific desires in your own life that you now begin to realize the Lord put there, be encouraged to trust God, His plans and desires, even more completely. He is fully trustworthy and will do not only what is good, but what is best for you – and through you. Even if it turns out not to be what you thought you wanted, you will find that His desires becoming yours are custom tailored for a perfect fit for you, by the One Who knows you better than you know yourself. Delight in Him and His desires!
© Copyright 2007 Kay V. Stocking
