“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

(Psalm 37:4 ESV)

“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” 

(Psalm 16:8 ESV)

Psalm 37:4 says to delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Does that mean that God will just give you whatever you want because you want Him to?

That’s not how I believe it works. If I’m going to delight myself in someone, I need to know them!  As I learn about God, I can find so much that brings me joy.  He is all-knowing, merciful, gracious, all-powerful, loving, holy, faithful, just, righteous, and so much more!  The more that I come to know about God, the more I will delight in Him. Delighting in the Lord means looking for true happiness in God.  I can feel pleasure as I grow to know and serve Him.

And as I grow to know and serve God, I know that He will not just hand things out like candy. If He did, I would have a new car and a lot of money in the bank to help others. True delight in Him causes us to take our eyes off of what we want in order to long for what He desires. In the middle of fretting over circumstances, God wants us to delight in Him. 

David wrote in Psalms 37 principles for delighting in the Lord:
1. Know the fate of evildoers (vs. 2)
2. Trust in the Lord (vs. 3)
3. Do good. (Vs. 3)
4. Befriend kindness (Vs. 3)
5. Delight yourself in the Lord (Vs. 4)
6. Commit your way to Him. (Vs. 5)
7. Rest in, and wait patiently for the Lord. (Vs. 7)

Look at that list. In about the middle is delight yourself in the Lord. How do you do it? Stop fretting over things. Take your eyes off your circumstances and focus on God. God has a way of working things out to our good if we let Him. 

Have a great day, everyone. 

Kathy Keller
Writer and Prayer warrior with Answers2Prayer Ministries
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