Psalm 37:4b [“Delight yourself in the LORD,”] “and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
[When we delight in you, Lord, we are giving you first place in our hearts. You truly become our God, our final authority. We recognize you as the Mighty Lord, Ruler of our hearts. You are our first Love, the most important One in our lives.
Therefore, you can safely give us other things, knowing that they will not become idols for us. Whatever you give us will be a tool, not a temple, it will be a help, not a hindrance.
There is also a second meaning to this phrase, I believe. As I praise you, Lord, as I focus on you, delighting in you, worshiping you in all, you will put the right desires into my heart and then fulfill them in whatever way and time you know is best.
This means there will be a shift in my desires from self-centered temporary goals, to loftier and more eternal ones. I will go from wanting God help me in my narrow vision to wanting to join Him in His great, wide plans.
For example,
–I will go from focusing on success and fulfillment to wanting God to have as much glory as possible.
–I will go from wanting to be comfortable and safe, to wanting as many people as possible to come into the Kingdom, no matter how unsafe that makes me.
–I will go from assuming my goals line up with His, to asking Him to show me His goals.
–I will go from assuming my motives are correct, to letting Him guide me in examining my motives so I can reject the negative and neutral ones, and act only out of godly ones.
All these are worldview shifts leading us to the place of Asaph in Psalm 73:25 where he proclaims, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”
This is a place of freedom and joy, a life of love and grace, for our God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”(Pas. 86:15).
Delighting in God is a delightful practice we should practice consistently!
