"Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4 Delight: a high degree of pleasure, or satisfaction of mind, joy - delight is a more permanent pleasure than joy, and not dependant on sudden excitement.~Webster 1828 Out of all the verses quoted and misunderstood I believe this verse is right near the top. From first glance, one might interpret this verse as "God will give me whatever I want", but with closer examination, we see that this is not the case. The "catch" is the first part you read...delight yourself in the Lord - then He will give you the desires of your heart.But what does "delighting in God" really mean? For a long time I thought delight was merely being happy, but reading the definition above added so much clarity to my understanding of this verse as well as my entire relationship with God.
Delight is satisfaction. It is more permanent than joy, and it isn't a "rush" of temporary excitement. It's a deep, steady pleasure that lasts and satisfies our entire being.
As I look back on what I first thought "delight" meant, I see that I was missing the point. It is one thing to be happy, and another thing to be satisfied.
How this changes the meaning of this verse! It means if you are completely satisfied in God, He will give you the desires of your heart.
But what does a God-satisfied heart want? It wants exactly what God wants. Filtered out are our fleshly desires, and they are replaced with the desires of God's pleasure and will...the eternal desires that God created in us.
Some might say that a satisfied heart desires nothing. Well, again, I think we miss the point. When we are satisfied in God, no longer do we crave the meaningless, profitless things of this world, but our hearts are burning with desires, the desires of our Master. We desire to make Him (not us) famous. We desire to share His good news and love with the world. We desire to know Him even more. We desire to walk worthy of His name and give others the correct perception of Him.
Our hearts are overflowing with desires! But they all point back to Jesus. No longer do we seek a temporary appetizer, we are feasting on the cream of the crop, and that is Christ.
Being satisfied with God is how we find our purpose and our pleasure. This is what we were made for! This is life!
"You were made to feast on Christ, to be satisfied with Him, to treasure His infinite value, to enjoy making much of Him all your days. Here is your fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore: not in being made much of, but in making much of Him." ~ John Piper
My encouragement to you is to be satisfied with Jesus. Pray for a hunger for more of Him. Pray that you would delight in Him all your days, and to forevermore be satisfied in Him alone. He will answer your prayer...for this is what you were made for.
Delight in Jesus...He'll give you the desires of your heart.
This is a hard thing to practice. However, it is sooo rewarding. I have seen it! (Sadly, I don't know why it takes difficulty to bring us into a closer walk with Him!)
ReplyDeleteyou're so right, Kaysie! as far as 'wanting' goes, being satisfied isn't having everything you want, it's being content with what you have and, (for me) only desiring what God wants you to have... being content with who and what you are. if you can do that, God said He will bless you.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason why we are brought into a closer walk with Jesus in hardship and trials, is because that's when we really realize how much we need God. anyone can be faithful when there is nothing wrong and there are no difficult things to overcome. but when trials do come my way, because I am so helpless, I then see God The Father all the more.
so I just thought I would answer your question, Ella. that is, if you were even asking one! :)
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Thank you so much Kaysie! Thanks especially for the verse, and your prayers mean so much!
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