Psalm 37:4 - Get to Know God and Discover Your Desires Become His.

Psa. 37:4; Get to Know God and Discover Your Desires Become His.

Psa 37:4 (NIV)  Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give 
you the desires of your heart. 

Psa 37:4 (TEV)  Seek your happiness in the LORD, and he will 
give you your heart's desire. 

CONTEXT

Security of Those Who Trust in the LORD, and Insecurity of the 
Wicked. 

Psalm 37: In Praise of Trust. What are the characteristics and 
the benefits of trust in the LORD? This, one of the best-loved of 
the psalms, explains. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary] 

THE JOYS OF TRUST (PS. 37)
If you were to pick two psalms to memorize, the first would 
probably be the 23rd. But the second surely would be this great psalm in 
praise of trust. 
No psalm has more comforting verses, more verses inviting 
lengthy meditation. No psalm has more verses that speak so directly to 
the human heart. 
Because of this, it's almost sacrilege to analyze this psalm: to 
break its thoughts apart, to look for similarities and themes. And 
yet, how much this psalm tells us about the nature, and about the 
benefits, of trust. 
If we seek to probe the nature of trust, we find in this psalm 
that trust is: 
Looking to God and doing good (v. 3).
Delighting in the LORD (v. 4).
Committing our way to the LORD (v. 5).
Not fretting when the wicked succeed (v. 7).
Refraining from anger and wrath (v. 8).
Being satisfied with little (v. 16).
Giving generously to others (v. 21).
Turning from evil to do good (v. 27).
Planting God's Law in our hearts (v. 31).
Waiting for the LORD (v. 34).
Keeping His way (v. 34).
Taking refuge in the LORD (v. 40).
Trust is in fact a way of life, the way of life we choose when 
we commit ourselves to the LORD. 
This same psalm reveals the outcome of trust. One who actively 
commits himself to the LORD can expect these benefits: 
To enjoy safe pastures (v. 3).
To receive the desires of his heart (v. 4).
To be vindicated (vv. 5-6).
To inherit the land (vv. 9, 22, 34).
To enjoy great peace (v. 11).
To be upheld by God (v. 17).
To gain an enduring inheritance (v. 18).
To enjoy plenty in days of famine (v. 19).
To be upheld by the LORD (v. 24).
To always live securely (v. 27).
To never be forsaken by God (v. 28).
To not slip (v. 31).
To see the wicked cut off (v. 34).
To have a future (v. 37).
To be helped and delivered by the LORD (v. 40).
The beauty of this psalm aside, its teaching is vital to our 
well-being. Only by an active trust in God, expressed in the choices made 
each day of our lives, can we experience the many benefits of a 
personal relationship with the LORD. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary] 

CROSS REFERENCES

Psalm 21:1 (KJV)  The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; 
and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!  

Neh. 8:10 (KJV)  Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the 
fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom 
nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye 
sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.  

Psalm 145:19 (KJV)  He will fulfil the desire of them that fear 
him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.  

Isaiah 58:14 (KJV)  Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; 
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and 
feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the 
Lord hath spoken it.  

Proverbs 16:3 (KJV)  Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy 
thoughts shall be established.  

John 15:7 (KJV)  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, 
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  

John 15:16 (KJV)  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, 
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that 
your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father 
in my name, he may give it you.  

1 John 5:14-15 (KJV)  And this is the confidence that we have in 
him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we 
have the petitions that we desired of him.  

COMMENTARY / APPLICATION

Heart. In Biblical language the center of the human spirit, from 
which spring emotions, thought, motivations, courage and action--"the 
wellspring of life" (Pr 4:23). [NIV SB re Psa.4:7] 

"Delight thyself also in the Lord." Psalm 37:4
The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those 
who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it 
is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The life of the 
believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified 
of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and 
joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as 
a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but 
never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is 
either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do 
otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, 
that no two words in their language stand further apart than 
"holiness" and "delight." But believers who know Christ, understand that 
delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot 
prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find 
that his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. 
Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do 
the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving him from 
custom, they would follow him though all the world cast out his name as 
evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no 
fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, 
nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our 
happiness, our duty is our delight. 
Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower; as 
indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious jewels 
glittering side by side in a setting of gold. 
"Tis when we taste thy love,
Our joys divinely grow,
Unspeakable like those above,
And heaven begins below." [Morning and Evening by Charles H. 
Spurgeon] 

Friendship with God
Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, 
as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in 
prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that 
you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence 
of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the 
final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a 
right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and 
delight; you are God's will. And all of your commonsense decisions are 
actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint 
brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in 
the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing 
that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense 
of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately....... Whenever 
we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, "Well, I don't 
know, maybe this is not God's will," then we still have another level 
to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God 
as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be--"that they may be 
one just as We are one" (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you 
prayed about--were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your 
determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? 
"For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask 
Him" (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know 
God better. "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give 
you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying 
to get a perfect understanding of God Himself. [My Utmost for His 
Highest by Oswald Chambers re Gen.18:17] 

David calls us to take delight in the Lord and to commit 
everything we have and do (our "way") to him. But how do we do this? To 
delight in someone means to experience great pleasure and joy in his or 
her presence. This happens only when we know that person well. Thus, 
to delight in the Lord, we must know him better. Knowledge of God's 
great love for us will indeed give us delight. 
To commit ourselves to the Lord means entrusting everything--our 
lives, families, jobs, possessions--to his control and guidance. To 
commit ourselves to the Lord means to trust in him (Psalm 37:5), 
believing that he can care for us better than we can ourselves. We should 
be willing to wait patiently (Psalm 37:7) for him to work out what 
is best for us. [Life Application SB] 

When the righteous have desires that spring from the Lord, the 
Lord will surely fulfill those desires. [Nelson SB] 

Worrying is choosing not to trust God. Anger and worry 
(fretting) are two very destructive emotions. They reveal a lack of faith 
that God loves us and is in control. We should not worry; instead, we 
should trust in God, giving ourself to him for his use and safekeeping. 
When you dwell on your problems, you will become anxious and angry. 
But if you concentrate on God and his goodness, you will find peace. 
Where do you focus your attention? [Life Application SB re vs 8] 

When self is on the throne of your heart you worry; but with 
Christ there you worship.  [Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren 
paraphrased]