Delighting in the Lord

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

I was reading this verse in Psalm 37 today to try to learn about faithfulness (the verse before it says, "befriend faithfulness" and the verse after it says, "commit your way to the Lord" - putting your shoulder to the work for the long haul) and this well known verse popped out at me.

I wrote it in my own words, and it finally came to life - "Make God your deepest desire and he will give it to you." No, this verse is not talking about just thinking a little "happy thought" about God every once in awhile so that He will give you everything you want - money, fame, lustful desires, a husband or wife, etc... This verse is not talking about getting the stuff of this earth at all. It is looking deeper.

"Delight yourself in the Lord" - what does it mean to make the Lord my delight? I had a thought last night and I think it goes well here. I realized that whatever gets you excited - that is your idol. Ask yourself, "What is it that makes my heart move?" and you will know if the Lord is your delight or if your delight is found in something fleeting on this earth. I know I am bowing down to many things that are not the Lord today.

The word "delight" here is SO deep! I just looked it up and it means "to pamper, to refresh oneself" (in the Lord!), "to take pleasure/delight in, desire; to be willing, inclined", "to take ones pleasure in". This is the kind of word you would use to talk about the way you feel about going on a vacation or eating the most delicious of foods or anything else good on this earth that makes your heart come alive.

This word is used in this specific form and meaning only 7 times in the Old Testament (it is a Hebrew word, so the New Testament has different words to describe what this word is describing - The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek). I'm going to go through a few of them to see what they have to say about "delighting ourselves" in the Lord.

Job 22:25-26 says,

"[After you return to God and return to righteousness] then the Lord will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God." 

This verse compares delighting in the Lord to the way you feel about gold and precious silver - things of great price that are precious and well protected and cared for. Imagine how your heart would leap if you were given handfuls of precious stones - rubies, diamonds, sapphires - or like the feeling you had when you got that one Christmas or birthday present that completely blew your mind! This is the way the Lord wants us to feel toward Him! Complete and utter joy and excitement and fulfilled longing.

Job 27:10 is Job talking about his enemies and is asking, 

"Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?"

Delighting ourselves in God means calling on him at all times! God wants us to be like the best friend who can't go a day without talking to him and who calls at all hours of the day and night! We love him so much that we can't stop talking to him.

Psalm 37:11 is David talking about how the righteous will feel when the Lord finally returns and destroys evil.

"But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace."

Here the word delight describes the feeling that all God's saints will have when death has finally been defeated and all the raging wars and violence of this earth finally ceases. It is the feeling of one, satisfied and whole deep breath in and exhaling out. "Yes, here is finally the peace I have longed for" it is saying. This is how the Lord wants us to feel in His presence right now. Delighting in Him means finding out rest in Him. 

Isaiah 55:2 is a metaphor comparing delighting ourselves in God to feasting on rich foods, 

"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food."

You know the feeling you have after eating just enough of the most delicious food you've ever tasted (some of us are learning how to stop at "satisfaction" and not eat until we are sick)? Isaiah is comparing delighting ourselves in God with eating a banquet of the most delicious and good foods - food that is most completely healthy and also utterly satisfying and delicious (only God can give such food!). And with God, there is no limit on how much we can take in - the more we "eat" of him, the more we are satisfied. When we enter into God, there is no place where we become "too full" to take in any more - the more we are filled, the more we are satisfied, and the more we desire to be filled fuller. :) A never ending feast that only gets better! Imagine it! This is the delight that the Lord wants us to find in Him alone. He is the only one or thing that can full satisfy us without making us sick or ashamed. 

Isaiah 58:14 is talking about what the Lord will do for Israel (for us as the Church as well) when they turn away from wickedness and come back to obeying Him,

"Then you shall delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth" 

Have you ever dreamed you were flying? This is the feeling - of soaring free and unhindered across the sky - that the Lord says is "delight". Look at a bird and think of how they must feel because that is what the Lord means when he says that he wants us to delight in him. Find our peace, find our complete ease and abandonment in Him. 

Lastly, Isaiah 66:11 is the prophet Isaiah is describing Zion as a mother and the people of God as children nursing in her arms and uses the word "delight" to describe how God people (Israel and the Church) will feel when they have finally come home to the city the Lord is preparing for them - like a child in it's mothers arms,

"That you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance!" 

Didn't know the Bible talked like that did you? And to think that this is something that God said through his prophet...wow! We serve a passionate God! Just as a mother longs to provide for her child and to keep it in utter safety and rest in her arms - so the Lord wants to do for us! All he asks of us is to let him hold us - to stop struggling against him and to finally rest in the peace and satisfaction of himself. This is what "delighting yourself in the Lord" means: letting Him be your everything. Your longing. Your daydream. Your desire.

Now take all that meaning of the word "delight" and push it back into the verse again:

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

See how the verse has changed? Now it is no longer, "Go to church and read your Bible every once in awhile and maybe pray before you eat, and God will call that 'good enough' and give you what you really want - success, money, a husband, and a good insurance plan". No! Far from it! 

Now I see that this verse is calling for me to put my everything into my God - my desires, my hopes, my dreams - and to make HIM my desire! He is saying to us, "My beloved ones, desire me with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and I will give you that desire! I will give you Myself!"

This is all He has every wanted, this is all he has ever called us to -  to enter into a RELATIONSHIP with HIMSELF! To hear Him calling us "Beloved" and to say back to Him, "Yes, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine!" (Song of Solomon 6:3). 

Oh Beloved Jesus, give me this burning, passionate desire for more of you! Relight this dying flame in my heart and do not let it be blown out by the evil one! I love you now and ever more do I long to love you! Teach me the way to delight in You!

Amen.