I was chatting with a friend at the dining table one morning, and she was telling me how Psalm chapters 36 & 37 have been speaking a lot to her. Then I was reminded of this particular verse that I got stuck with for quite sometime. I then, thought of digging more into this. Read on...
Psalms 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Below are taken from different Bible versions...
Delight yourself in the Lord - Enjoy the Lord; Do what the Lord wants; Enjoy serving the Lord; Be happy with the Lord; Seek your happiness in the Lord; Take pleasure...
and He shall give you the desires of your heart - desires and secret petitions of your heart; He will give you everything your heart really wants; He will give you what your heart asks...
The Msg version: “Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last. Keep company with God, get it on the best.”
This verse is alluring, don't you think? "He will give you the desires of your heart." It sounds like a "your dreams will come true" line and "someone's going to give you what you want." Who wouldn't want that, if that were the case?
Some have said that "give" doesn't mean pass on a nice gift but rather make a change in you ("impart" or "assign") as in "pickling cucumber"; "give you the kinds of internal desires/attitudes you should have, such as patience and kindness."
Ignoring for the moment what "give" means, it seems clear enough that the thing that causes the giving to happen is delighting yourself in the Lord. I’ve wrestled on what that word means, what does it look like to delight in the Lord, how do I delight in Him? And if I can grasp its real meaning, if, as a friend says, the concept can make the 18 inch drop (from head to heart), I believe my life would improve tremendously. I don’t want to just listen to people telling me how to delight in Him, I want to find it out myself and live it out. I want it so real that it gets printed out on my bones.
I looked up the dictionary and delight means, “ a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy; rapture." How about the Hebrew translation, I thought. So here’s what I found out from another “digger” like me.
The Hebrew word one preacher cites is definitely used in the bible, but it wasn't the Hebrew word used by this verse. The word here is used only 10 times in the bible. The online references gave these definitions: luxurious, delicate, feminine, to be of dainty habit, be pampered, to be happy about, take exquisite delight, to make merry over, make sport of. I can fit "be happy about" in the verse, but what am I to make of "delicate" and "dainty"? There is something I need to understand there, for the author chose that Hebrew word instead of some other Hebrew word that could also be translated as "delight." (I haven't figured that part out yet.)
Here are the 10 phrases in the bible in which the Hebrew word is used: delicate woman; delicateness; delight in the Almighty; delight himself in the Almighty; delight yourself in the Lord (this verse); delight themselves in the abundance of peace; soul delight itself in fatness; against whom do you sport yourselves; delight yourself in the Lord; delighted with the abundance of her glory; delicate woman.
Of the places this word is translated "delight," most are about the Lord, which doesn't help me figure out its meaning. But the other uses of "delight" add some breadth to it, particularly the one that appears 7 verses later in Psalm 37: "But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
If I am to think that "delight" means "work harder at serving God in some way." "Serve God better and he'll give you the desires of your heart." If I try to work that "serve" definition into the "peace" verse, it clearly doesn't work - "they shall serve the abundance of peace."
That "peace" verse helps me see how delight is being used here. Think of how nice it is when calm returns, when you've had a good night's sleep, when health and strength return, when a storm passes, when you resolve conflict with a loved one. Peace is nice. Abundant peace would be amazing. People could really relax and be happy. That would be a surprising thing, an amazing thing. Observing and grasping the abundance of peace could make a person feel really good. They wouldn't have to work for peace; they could just observe it and enjoy it. It would be a response to a great thing.
That works. I can grasp that "delight" in both the "peace" verse and the "Lord Almighty" verses is about having a happy response, not a "go do it" action. So, does verse 4 mean, "Respond to the surprising, amazing goodness of the Lord..."? I think so. Plenty of people have stories to share that underscore this. Their lives have been transformed because they "get it." I’ve had my share of this goodness myself and I know it continues for I hold His promises in the last two verses of Psalm 23 (His goodness will follow me all the days of my life); and Psalm 27:13 (I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living).
On one of my walks in the forest, I was still mulling over this verse and I felt I heard God telling me, “Mary, the fact that you took time to ask what does delighting in Me look like, is in itself delighting. I loved that you wrestle on this, that you wanted to find it out yourself brought pleasure in Me.” I was dumbfounded.
And then I continued onto the second part of the verse “He will give you the desires of your heart.” I took all the courage to write down what I long to see and have in my life and in others’. The list went on and on. I was so surprised to realise that I’ve believed a lie - that I didn’t know what I wanted, that I could not and will not be able to see those longings come out! Then I asked God which of these desires please Him. I waited and in a small still, warm voice, He spoke these “You have ravished My heart when you dare to expose them even if I knew them already for I’ve put eternity in your heart. I will cause my goodness to pass over you, flood you, and will continue to teach you in My ways when you keep delighting in Me. I love you endlessly!”
For the rest of us, perhaps the exercise continues in our understanding this verse. "What is it about the Lord that, if I observe it, comprehend it, would surprise me and amaze me and bring about an internal response, just like someone delighting in there being peace?"
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