Take delight in the Lord
Psalms 37:3-4 - Spending time with God — whether in prayer or in contemplation of His word — is a sure way to delight in His goodness and wisdom!
“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalms 37:3-4 NIV
Are you a worrier? Do you envy others for either what they have or who they are? This is a psalm of David, and is one of his acrostic psalms — written in such a way that the successive lines start with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. David begins this psalm with a reminder that we shouldn’t worry or envy, since those who do evil and wrong us will “wither… and die away”. And that’s where we get to these two verses…
David is giving solid advice to men and women of faith: trust God, and do good for His glory. For most of us, both of those pieces of advice are difficult to achieve. We worry instead of leaving things up to God to take care of, and we sin by chasing after the idols of prosperity instead of doing good.
Charles Spurgeon said about this verse:
Faith cures fretting. Sight is cross-eyed, and views things only as they seem, hence her envy; faith has clearer optics to behold things as they really are, hence her peace.1
When David says to “dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture”, he’s counseling God’s people to relax and enjoy God’s blessings. Next he goes on to say “Take delight in the Lord”. Once again, this can be interpreted as a “Don’t worry, be happy” lesson for the faithful. Worrying and lusting after what others have is stressful. David is advising the faithful to (in the words of David Guzik of Enduring Word) “cheer one’s heart and mind by considering and by faith receiving the multiple blessings of God”.
Spurgeon says of this delight:
“In a certain sense imitate the wicked; they delight in their portion — take care to delight in yours, and so far from envying you will pity them.”
and James Montgomery Boice elaborated on why Christians might not delight in God:
“The reason many apparent Christians do not delight in God is that they do not know him very well, and the reason they do not know him very well is that they do not spend time with him.”2
Spending time with God — whether in prayer or in contemplation of His word — is a sure way to delight in His goodness and wisdom!
What is the reward of taking delight in the Lord? “He will give you the desires of your heart.” Once again quoting from Enduring Word:
“This is a wonderful and even safe promise. The one who truly delights in the LORD will find his heart and desires changed, steadily aligning with God’s own good desires for his life. Thus we see that finding delight in God is a key to a happy, satisfied life.
We all know that leading a hedonistic lifestyle is usually a one-way ticket on the Highway to Hell, but Guzik points out that:
The principle of Psalm 37:4 is the foundation for a principle sometimes called Christian Hedonism. Normally, we think of hedonism as the idolatry of pleasure. The term Christian Hedonism has been used to describe a righteous pursuit of satisfaction and pleasure, one that is rooted in a delighted focus upon God.
That’s a type of hedonism we can all get behind!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I pray that You forgive me for the many times during my life when I have taken delight in the wrong things. Keep me from worrying over what others do or what they have, and help me to focus on Jesus and to delight myself in You. I pray that the desires of my heart become one with Your perfect will and purposes, for Your unceasing praise and glory. I ask this in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Commentary quotations from Enduring Word are used with the written permission of the author
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The Treasury of David: Volume 1" (Psalms 1-57) (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1988)
Boice, James Montgomery "Psalms: An Expostional Commentary" Volume 1 (Psalms 1-41) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1994)