What do you do to delight yourself? It’s almost 8 pm, and I am stuffing my face with my favorite snack, popcorn. Most nights, I offer to share with my husband. But not tonight. Tonight I take pleasure in every crunch. True delight takes its eyes off of everything else except the object of its affection. Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” As humans, it’s tempting to focus on the second half of the verse and miss the significance of the first. I know I’m guilty. So here I am, with my Bible open, looking at the context of the verse. After all, context is crucial!
When I look again at the passage, I find four things we’re to do, and two of them come with an ‘and’ that deserve our attention.
Psalm 37:3-7
Trust in the Lord and do what is good;
dwell in the land and live securely.Take delight in the Lord,
and He will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in Him, and He will act,
making your righteousness shine like the dawn,
your justice like the noonday.
Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him;
do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way,
by the man who carries out evil plans.
- Trust in the Lord
- Take delight in the Lord
- Commit your way to the Lord
- Be silent before the Lord
In this passage, I see four things we are to do and two things that God will do for us. Knowing our part is imperative to His acting on our behalf. Context is crucial. He gives us two promises that are conditioned on our behavior. If we delight in Him and commit our way to Him, He will act on our behalf.
Taking delight in Him and committing our ways to Him are continual intentional actions. These are not one-and-done events.
Trust. Delight. Commit. Be Silent. Simple commands that are sometimes difficult to carry out. But the benefits are worth it. Obedience to His word gives birth to the desires of our hearts. Trust Him, dear one. Let’s cling to His promises and carry out His commands. Trust, take delight, commit, and silently wait on Him. He will not fail us.
Let’s Reflect
Read over the passage and journal whatever the Holy Spirit reveals to you.
Let’s Pray
Lord, You alone are worthy of our devotion. We trust in You. Lord, we delight in Your word and Your presence. Father, we commit our ways to You. And we wait before You, with open hands and hearts, ready to do Your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Please share the popcorn Alida!
I truly enjoyed reading today’s post.
“Taking delight in Him and committing our ways to Him are continual intentional actions. These are not one-and-done events.”
Amen
Thank you for this reminder. It’s so easy to focus on what God will do and what we want from Him, while forgetting what we must do. True relationship with Him is definitely a partnership.
Enjoyed reading this Alida. Thanks for sharing these reminders to trust the Lord, to take delight in the Lord, which I know I must be intentional about, commiting my ways to Him and being silent before Him