"Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4 (HCS)
I have meditated on this passage during this past week. It is so very familiar, quoted in Sunday School classes and touted almost as a formula to getting what we want in life. After all, who doesn't want "the desires of your heart"? Almost as good as Aladdin's magic lamp, right?
There's one real problem: I can't trust my heart. My heart is more deceitful than anything else in my life (Jeremiah 17:9). In fact, according to the word used for heart in that passage, that includes my feelings, my will and my intellect - basically anything that I would normally trust in making day-to-day decisions. Ouch! So where does that leave me?
Well, the verses from Psalm 37 are instructional. Unlike most psalms, it doesn't include praise or petition, it was written for teaching. It is written to be acted out. But it is interesting to note that the instruction in verse 4 actually includes an element of our position in the action. The verb for "take delight" actually indicates action, but action to be pliable, flexible, and submissive. That is so opposite of what we think when we think of "action". We kick in to "Chuck Norris: Christian Ninja" mode and fully expect that by what we do, we can get what we want.
Consider that the whole of the Christian life is a life of "position" - covered by the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, regardless of the circumstances around us ("condition"). Watchman Nee teaches that every issue we deal with in this life is an authority issue - i.e. "who's the boss?" If that is the case then, according to Psalm 37, our "delight" is in submitting to the authority and the sufficiency of the LORD.
But back to that old deceptive thing called our heart. If our heart can't be trusted, then how do we even know what the "desires of our heart" look like? Doesn't that make every yearning and every passion suspect?
Not at all. In fact, this verse takes us forward into the New Testament as Jesus teaches: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."" (Matthew 22:7) Leave it to Jesus to kick it up a notch! Not only with all our feelings and emotions, but also our life, strength and understanding.
Earlier in Matthew 6:33, we read the words of Jesus: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." The teaching is that by seeking the rule of God (kingdom) and the justification that comes from God (righteousness), everything else is taken care of. This carries the same implications for Psalm 37:4. It is a cause and effect, "if-then" proposition. Take delight in the LORD. THEN...He will both author AND fulfiller of the desires of your heart. The amazing blessing in this is that if we seek God and trust Him to the point of obedience, we can leave the consequences to Him. He will also get the glory!
