Delighting in the Lord

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

What does it mean to "delight" in the Lord? The word in the Hebrew is used to describe the splendor or pleasant appearance of palaces. Anything that we take pleasure in, find appealing to our senses is what we delight in. I did a Google search on the word "delight" and it brought back pictures of chocolate and other desserts. 

The first question in the shorter catechism says our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That is the same basic idea - God made us for this very reason: that we might enjoy him, and delight in him. He wants us to experience pleasure in knowing him and being known by him. That's the truth principle this Psalm is based on. The Psalm begins, "Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb." (vv. 1-2) Delight in the Lord is contrasted with fret and envy of the wicked. The point here is that we might find ourselves envious and even angry with the wicked, not because they are wicked but because they seem to be prospering and having their fill of earthly pleasures. We, who follow Christ, sometimes "feel" like we are missing out on something. This Psalm reminds us that the pleasures of the world and the wicked that pursue them are like the Annual Rye Grass in Florida - it has a delightful green color all winter until the spring sun kills it off. The substance of their delight cannot sustain them in the heat of the sun. Those pleasures are fleeting and all who delight in them become like them - they will soon fade away like Rye Grass in May. 

Jesus taught we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and God's righteousness and all these things will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). David is saying something very similar here: delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart, which does not mean put God first and then he will give you what you really want. This is not like when parents say to their kids, eat your dinner first, then I will give you ice cream. Clearly, the children have no desire for the dinner, it is merely a means to an end (the end being the ice cream!) They are just tolerating the dinner. We are not being told to tolerate the Lord, but to truly delight in him, to see him as wonderful, beautiful, pleasant, exceedingly enjoyable. To relate this to the dinner table scenario: Stop thinking about the ice cream! Put it out of your minds. Stop delighting in the sweet sugary things and delight yourself in the hunger-satisfying, rich tasting feast put before you. It is delicious, pleasurable and will give you genuine satisfaction. This is about seeing things for how they truly are.

When we let go of the sugary pleasures of the world that the wicked enjoy, we no longer envy them, but pity them.  They are heading towards spiritual diabetes. These Turkish Delights will bring them to ruin. We begin to see that as God fills our mouths with what is truly good and satisfying. What happens when we delight in the Lord is we desire him. We long for his love, his goodness to fill our lives. We find that our delights change. Every parent knows what happens when kids eat all the sweets they desire - they have the sugar high followed by the sugar crash and burn. They become irritable and lack energy. We begin to see what these worldly delights do to us and how miserable we really are. We lose the taste for those things the wicked love and enjoy for we see how unsatisfying they really are. God then gives us new desires - greater appetites for greater things - things only he can provide: himself.

John Calvin said it well: 

"We must therefore constantly recall to our minds this truth, that it can never be well with us except in so far as God is gracious to us, so that the joy we derive from his paternal favour towards us may surpass all the pleasures of the world. To this injunction a promise is added, that, if we are satisfied in the enjoyment of God alone, he will liberally bestow upon us all that we shall desire: He will give thee the desires of thy heart. This does not imply that the godly immediately obtain whatever their fancy may suggest to them; nor would it be for their profit that God should grant them all their vain desires. The meaning simply is, that if we stay our minds wholly upon God, instead of allowing our imaginations like others to roam after idle and frivolous fancies, all other things will be bestowed upon us in due season.

What are you desiring? Maybe you desire to get married? Maybe you desire to be successful? To own your own home? To go on a cruise vacation? To make a difference in the world? Don't pursue these things at the expense of the greatest delight in the universe. Pursue that which is better by far and see what goodness he will fill you with. 

 Thou lovely source of true delight
Whom I unseen adore
Unveil Thy beauties to my sight
That I might love Thee more
Oh that I might love Thee more.

(Anne Steele, 1716-1778)

-- Pastor Dave