Delight

Delight

Psalm 37:4

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

What a wonderful expression of God’s grace. When we delight in God above all else, He reshapes our hearts, to desire what He desires — and in His grace, He fulfills those desires.

It reminds me of Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” It’s a matter of priorities, right?

Of course, we tend to read such Truths as some sort of spiritual transaction; “you scratch my back... I’ll scratch yours.” We’d rather the Bible read, “If I delight in God, He’ll give me what I want.” And so often that’s what we hear (with our temporal ears) when we encounter verses like Psalm 37:4.

But to hear it that way is to invert the verse. This is not a prosperity promise; it is a sanctification promise. God is not a means to our ends — He is the end.

In Reformed theology, we begin with God’s sovereignty and holiness. God is “Holy, Holy, Holy.” He’s “holy Other.” IN fact God’s Holiness is the only characteristic attributed to the Creator that’s repeated in triplicate, in the whole of God’s Word. His holiness is magnified to the third power!

He is not beholden to our whims, wants and desires. Rather, our hearts are to be conformed to His will, His wants, His desires. And so this verse calls us not to attempt to use God... or to try and manipulate the Almighty for what we want... but to love Him — to delight in Him - for that’s where the desires of our heart are fulfilled.

What is the chief end of man, Church? To glorify God and to enjoy Him, forever! Sounds like delight, to me.

To “delight” in the Lord isn’t about the warm fuzzies... or our feelings. It’s a settled satisfaction in who God is — His character, His Word, His promises.

The Psalmist cries out in Psalm 73:25: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” Desire and delight go hand-in-hand.

True delight is rooted, it’s anchored, in regeneration. Left to our own devices we won’t seek God! The natural man does not delight in God (Rom. 8:7). But when the Spirit gives new birth, we begin to treasure Christ as our highest goal... our highest good.

Of course, when you and I, as the redeemed in Christ, delight in God... we’re producing the evidence of a changed heart. It’s a result of God first delighting in us — not because we were lovely, but because He is love. As Augustine said: “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Listen: God’s not promising to gratify us by lavishing carnal wishes and worldly pleasures. The Bible actually warns against such: James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

God is too wise and too loving, too merciful to ever give us anything that’s not for our greater good, and His greater purposes.

Which means only one thing... God seeks our transformation, in Christ. Christ fashions our desires after God’s Will... as He re-makes us into His own image, in conformity to God’s will.

When we truly delight in the Lord, our desires are changed. He gives us new hearts... holy intentions. We begin to long for righteousness, for communion with Him, for the advancement of His kingdom.

Which is in itself evidence of sanctification. The more we delight in God, the more our heart mirrors His.

It was John Calvin who said, “The will, which is the principal seat of sin, is first turned to God, and then the affections follow.” When our will is surrendered to God’s Will, we find what we’re looking for.

God grants the desires of our heart when we delight in Him, because our desires have become His desires. He is pleased to fulfill what He Himself has worked into our hearts (Phil. 2:13).

So how does God, practically speaking, make our desires become His desires?

*Well, He cultivates delight through meditation on His Word (Psalm 1:2). The Scripture reveals the glory of Christ. The more we behold Him, the more we are transformed (2 Cor. 3:18).

*He uses Prayer... which aligns our heart with God’s. In prayer, we submit our desires to His will and receive grace to trust Him, even when He withholds what we think we want.

*He uses times like this... in worship... as we gather with the saints to worship God. Worship is both a command and a delight. It reorients our affections away from the world and toward Christ.

In Christ, we’re given the perfect fulfillment of Psalm 37:4. He delighted always in the Father (John 4:34), and the Father gave Him the deepest desire of His heart — a redeemed people for Himself. And now, through His cross, and the resurrection, He invites us to share in that same delight...

I don’t know about you, but I’m so grateful for others who delighted to give their all for Christ, in order that we, too, might delight in the mercy and grace of our Redeemer. The sacrifices made, the lives changed, the Gospel shared/preached, by countless others who came before us... charting the course for you and me, to delight in God today.

Jesus himself said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” — John 15:11

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Amen.