“One-A-Week Challenge” – Week 44
“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
–Psalm 37:4 nkjv
Do you remember the first job you ever wanted? I’m not talking about your carefully thought out career path, I mean the first job you thought would be cool, fun, exciting, and adventurous. Perhaps you wanted to be a cowboy, an Army man, or an explorer. I can remember, like it was yesterday, the day I thought I had found the most perfect job in the world. I wanted to be a “garbage picker upper!” As I watched these men come through our neighborhood to collect the trash, it was so great because they had the chance to hang off the back of the big truck as it weaved its way through our streets. That had to be the coolest thing ever!
My next desire exchanged the garbage man for an astronaut when in July of 1969 Neil Armstrong said “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Needless to say, I never actually became an astronaut.
The Psalmist here gives us absolute assurance that God will give us the desires of our heart as we delight in Him. To delight means to be soft and pliable in the Lord. Most of us get our desire in front of our delight. We look for, think about, even dream about something we want to do or become and set about doing everything we can to accomplish that goal. We spend vast amounts of time, talent, and treasures in the pursuit of our desires. This is the natural way of fallen man. We tend to run out ahead of God instead of resting and waiting on Him (v7).
God’s way offers the exact opposite activity in our fulfillment of desires. The Bible says clearly we are to trust in the Lord, commit our way to the Lord, and delight in the Lord first. C. H. Spurgeon wrote,
Our foolish way is to desire, and then set to work to compass what we desire.
We do not go to work in God’s way, which is to seek Him first, and then expect all
things to be added unto us. If we will let our heart be filled with God till it runs
over with delight, then the Lord Himself will take care that we shall not want
any good thing. He can do for us far more than all our friends. It is better to be
content with God alone than to go about fretting and pining for the
paltry trifles of time and sense. For a while we may have disappointments;
but if these bring us nearer to the Lord, they are things to be prized
exceedingly, for they will in the end secure to us the
fulfillment of all our right desires.
The more intimate we become with the Lord, our desires will be His desires. Delight in Him today.