When you take delight in the Lord, he becomes the only desire of your heart – and obeying him becomes your greatest joy. It isn’t always easy to let go of your physical longings and wishes, but what God leaves in its place is so much more satisfying.
I am Joni Eareckson Tada with the scripture we all know well.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Now isn’t that one of the most heartwarming promises in the Bible? And it is a promise – we delight ourselves in the Lord Jesus and we get something in exchange; we get the desires of our heart. And that is some promise! And since every promise is blood-bought by our Savior, it’s guaranteed without fail. Because a promise is only as good as the integrity of the one who is making the promise, right? And since God is the most reliable and trustworthy person in the universe, we can confidently count on his promises. We can expect all the promises of the Lord to be yes and amen in Christ! We can take the father at his word, because his Word is true, and he does not change. So, no wonder people love Psalm 37:4. If we take delight in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart. It’s guaranteed.
Now, sometimes we see the first half of this verse as a means of obtaining something physical, something tangible, something that will satisfy our wants and wishes for things and well, perhaps, even for someone. Take delight in the Lord, and you will get. Get what? Well, maybe a husband, a wife, a child, a job, or a new apartment. Take delight in the Lord and you’ll receive a promotion, acceptance to a certain college, or even a thing as honorable as a career in ministry. I recall decades ago when I was first paralyzed, someone showed me this verse, and, man, I grabbed ahold of it. If I would but delight myself in the Lord, he would give me back the use of my hands. He would give me legs that would walk. After all, another promise; like that one in Psalm 84 assures me that no good thing will God withhold from those whose lives are blameless. So, if I would but keep my nose clean, God would grant me a physical healing. No good thing will he withhold, and walking is surely a good thing, right?
Well, as you know, it never happened. But I knew that God was good on his word – his promise. So, maybe I needed [and perhaps we all need] to look for a deeper meaning in Psalm 37. And you know what? I discovered what that verse actually is saying. You see, because all God’s promises are yes in Christ, when we take delight in him, he becomes the desire – the only desire – of our heart. The Christian who truly takes pleasure in God doesn’t love him for the physical stuff he gives. Rather, when we love God with all our heart, pleasing him becomes our delight. Obeying him becomes our greatest joy. And loving Jesus makes us ten times happier than getting our own wants and wishes fulfilled.
You know as we grow in knowledge of Psalm 37, making Christ our delight, making much of his sacrifice; when we pore over the Bible, looking for insights about our Savior, we will receive a deeper faith, which will result in a life of trust and obedience. And that is when Christ becomes the only desire of our hearts. Jesus replaces our wants and desires with his own. True, it isn’t always easy to let go of our physical longings and wishes, but what God leaves in their place is so, so much more satisfying. And that’s your hope-filled word today and I trust that your desire – your highest and greatest desire – is for the Lord Jesus. Join me next time for more words of hope to help you grow in him.
© Joni and Friends