“Delight yourself in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
Trust in Him, and He will act” (Psalm 37:4-5).
I have read the above scripture many times but never looked at its deeper meaning until now? I love the word “delight.” It has a joyous ring to it. But what exactly does it mean to delight oneself in the Lord? The New Oxford American Dictionary defines delight as taking great pleasure in something or someone; to glory in; adore, love, relish, savor. The Greek meaning is to rejoice in; to have joy. The Hebrew word for delight is anag, which commands us to find enjoyment in God and His Word.
C.S. Lewis perceptively said this about the nature of man, “Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” God tells us, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). True happiness is joy that comes from a heart that rejoices in knowing God, abiding in Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic struct the world, we have been denied many external pleasures and freedoms that offered a sense of security and happiness. Unfortunately, we quickly and painfully learned that this world offers no guarantees—only false promises.
God, who is THE promise keeper, is calling us to look to Him as the guarantor of security, hope, and faith. He is our only lasting joy, our true happiness, joyfulness, and triumph. That is why we are called to pray and to make His Word a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105). Without His Word to comfort, encourage, correct, guide, and warn, we are like sheep, aimlessly wandering about without a shepherd’s protection. True joy and peace of mind can only be attained when we take pleasure in His Word that reveals His character, truth, and preeminence in all things.
I especially love God’s invitation in Isaiah 1:18 to “Come now and let us reason together.” He is giving us the opportunity to talk with Him as two friends, sharing thoughts and forming judgments by a process of logic, so they can come to a mutual understanding. Then He says, “Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow.” This is an invitation to see the logic of surrendering our heart and will to God, so we can receive both the rewards of His forgiveness and His blessings. However, to receive, we must first commit our way and plans to the Lord.
How do we commit our way to the Lord? God does not want a divided heart that loves both the world and Him. He said to the church of Laodicea, who had grown lukewarm in their zeal for Jesus, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16). We are either all in for God or all in for the world. There can be no compromising—no middle ground. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
God is omniscient, so He knows the road ahead of us. He also knows the obstacles to avoid and the correct road to take when reaching crossroads. At that moment, we can commit our way to the Lord and follow Him, or we can choose our own path, which leads to destruction.
Adam and Eve lived in a perfect utopia of unmatched beauty in the Garden of Eden. What is most astonishing is that God daily walked in the Garden and communed with them as with a friend. They enjoyed an amazing life, but they exchanged their unparalleled relationship with God and all of His provision for Satan’s false promises. Their failure to trust and believe God forever separated them from their Creator. Unfortunately, their disobedience and lack of trust became part of our human DNA. So, their failure to choose wisely brings us to the word trust.
Psalm 37:5 tells us to trust God and He will act. In other words, He will take action on our behalf. Personally, I would rather have God on my side, because everything else connected to this world is subject to failure. He even warns us not to be conformed to this world for it deceives. Instead, we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind through His Word, so that by testing we may discern what is the will of God, and what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). In other words, we are able to discern what is truth and what is a lie.
The last eight months have held great uncertainties about the future, deaths of loved ones, and quarantines of family members in nursing homes. Children are experiencing fear, sadness, anxiety, depression, and varying emotions. We have realized, to a greater degree, our vulnerability and how quickly we can lose our freedoms. The daily reminder of life’s brevity has caused many to turn their hearts and thoughts to God for comfort and hope. And many Christians, including myself, have been taking personal inventory of their life.
King David’s moral failure cause him to take inventory of his life. To his great sadness, he realized that the sin of pride, had opened the door to adultery, treachery, and murder. Not wanting to repeat that sin, he said to God, “… who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression” (Psalm 19:12-13, NIV).
What was the great transgression that David was referencing? This sin is characterized by pride, which challenges God and His Word and rejects the Holy Spirit. Without repentance, it leads to apostasy. Unfortunately, our Adamic nature makes us prone to sin; therefore, like David, we must humbly ask God to “reveal any hidden faults and willful sins” that we carry within our heart (Psalm 19).
My desire is to be in God’s will; therefore, I daily invite Him to search me and reveal anything that needs correction and change. And yes, there have been times when God painfully pointed out past and recent sins, that I had not recognized as sin, which required repentance. If we fail to submit to God, we become our own worst enemy. For nothing and no one can separate us from the love of Christ. Only we have that power.
PRAYER: FATHER, I pray as David prayed. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:24 NKJV). In Jesus’ name, amen.
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