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| Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. |
Delight Yourself In The Lord
A Study of Psalm 37
by PAMELA ROSE WILLIAMS MS
Studying the Psalms is a good way to reflect
upon the goodness of the Lord.
They
are the best collection of poems and songs ever published and the greatest
thing is that they are all Holy Spirit inspired!
As
you study the Psalms you learn that King David of Israel wrote many of them, such as
in the case of Psalm 37.
He
was an old man when he wrote this Psalm (Psalm 37:25).
Reading
through the Psalms and some other books of the Bible such as 1 & 2 Samuel
and 1 & 2 Chronicles you will learn that the words of this Psalm were
written by a man who spent many years hiding and escaping from people such as
the wicked King Saul.
The
clear message in this Psalm is to teach how we should respond to other people
even after we have been treated unjustly.
David
encourages the reader to continue to do right, submit to the Lord and trust Him
to deliver justice to the evildoers.
We
must delight in the Lord and know that He will bring it to pass.
Here are some of the
truths that I have found that should help you to D-E-L-I-G-H-T yourself in the Lord.
D - Do good, even
when evil abounds
“Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for
evermore.” (Psalm 37:27)
When
we are in the depths of despair it is so hard to get our eyes off of the
problem and keep them on the solution.
Jesus
is the solution because our faith in Him promises so much more than this world
can ever give.
God
promises to take care of us and even though He will care for us when we are
doing things that do not please Him, throughout His word He encourages us to do
good and not evil (Matthew 5:16, Romans
2:6-10, Galatians 5:19-26, Galatians 6:9, Ephesians 2:10).
E - Evildoers
will not prevail
“For evildoers shall be cut off: but those
that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.” (Psalm 37:9)
God
promises to destroy evildoers.
Our
current judicial system is based upon the laws of God.
He
is a just God and although it seems that sometimes evildoers are blessed in
this world, should they continue in their evil ways and never trust Jesus as
Savior they will be “cut off” from God and they will not win (Psalm 92:7, 101:8, Proverbs 21:15, Matthew
12:36-37, Romans 13:4, Revelation 21:8).
L - Love is
God’s motivation
“For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh
not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall
be cut off.” (Psalm 37:28)
I - Inheritance
of eternal life is our blessed hope
“The LORD knoweth the days of the upright:
and their inheritance shall be for ever.” (Psalm 37:18)
The
blessed hope of the believer is the eternal life that we inherit as joint heirs
with Jesus (Romans 8:17).
I
like to look at hard times, trials and tribulations in this life in light of
eternity.
When
we look forward to everlasting life with the Father in heaven the things of
this world grow dim.
We
must look forward and not back. Everlasting life is something that we see all
throughout the Bible (Matthew 25:46, John
17:3, Romans 6:23; 8:38-39, Ephesians 2:8-9, 2 Peter 3:9)
G - God is
our strength
“But the salvation of the righteous is
of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.” (Psalms 37:39)
Fighting
against the evil of the world causes us to become very weak.
Isn’t
it great to know that God is our strength in times of trouble? He is our shield
(Psalm 28:7).
He
increases our power when we are weak (Isaiah
40:29).
He
is our strong tower (Proverbs 18:10).
His
power is made strong in our weakness (2
Corinthians 12:9-10).
We
can do all things through Him (Philippians
4:13).
H - His hand
will hold us up
“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast
down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” (Psalm 37:24)
I
love the childhood song “He’s got the
whole world in His hands”.
It
paints such a great picture of how in control of everyone and everything that
God is.
He
holds us in the hollow of His hand and He catches us when we fall.
How
delightful it is to fall into the arms of such and awesome God. (Isaiah 40:31; 45:25, Psalm 46:5, John 10:28,
Ephesians 6:13, James 1:12, Jude 1:24)
T - Trust in
the Lord – there are so many promises in that
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so
shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself
also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way unto the LORD;
trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” (Psalm 37:3-5)
These few verses are full of promises. He promises to
give us a place to live with the physical nourishment of food.
Consider this: that dwelling place is more than our Lord
Jesus had during His earthly ministry.
He spoke of this in Matthew 8:20 when He said “ … The foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head.”
We are also promised to obtain the desires of our heart,
but that comes with conditions. We are encouraged to “delight” in the LORD as
one condition.
Other conditions are that we should “commit thy way” unto the
LORD as well as “trust” in Him and then He will bring it to pass.
A command and a promise, how delightful!
Final Thoughts
You
can “D-E-L-I-G-H-T yourself in the Lord” when you realize that doing good is
always the right choice.
Evildoers
never really win in the end.
God’s
love is amazing and never fails.
And
your eternal life is a guarantee that is sealed on the day you believe in what
Jesus went to the cross to do for you.
In
good times and in bad you can count on the fact that God is your strength. He
won’t let you fall.
And
you can trust Him to deliver upon every promise that He ever makes.
God
is not a man, that he should lie (Numbers
23:19a).
Delighting in the Lord is an attitude that says “I am God’s child and He’s got my back”.
Now
that is delightful!
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