DELIGHT THYSELF

PSALM 37:4 “DELIGHT THYSELF ALSO IN THE LORD AND HE SHALL GIVE THEE THE DESIRES OF THINE HEART.” (KJV)
      “Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (NKJV)
      “Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (NASB, NIV)
      “Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (RSV)
      “Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires.” (TLB)



      I’ll take a dog over a cat any day. I apologize to all you cat lovers. But, you pet a cat and he or she looks at you and kinda asks, “what else you got?” Only a loving, friend-for-life puppy/dog can give you all the love you need, no matter what the time of day.

      It wasn’t hard for me to pick a photo that brings out delight. Any kid who has ever experienced the new, unconditional love of a puppy can easily demonstrate delight. That puppy comes running at you as if to say, “I love you, whatever you want!” I love that! I see great delight in that from any kid. And then, you know what? From a new puppy to a life-long devoted companion, he turns right around and gives that kid exactly what his heart desires. It may be in the form of a slobbery, licked face or an anxious anticipated look of “what do you want to do next?” But give me a devoted dog any day to guarantee love, joy peace that kind of fills the desires of that kid’s heart.

      Psalm 37:4 has been my wife, Cheryl’s “life verse.” I have watched her for nearly fifty years now demonstrate in many circumstances how easy it is for her to “delight in the Lord.” Whenever I am disgruntled or disappointed, Cheryl could always find a way to show me how Jesus was at work in our lives and bringing His will to pass. That brought her great joy.

      Amazingly enough, when I started seeing life from her perspective, more times than not, I saw she was right. Jesus was there, every time, no matter what the current crisis or disappointing circumstance seemed to be. And if I looked hard enough, sought His will in the event and looked for how I might delight in Him instead of depressing into my observation of the circumstances, I usually found Him waiting to give me what the desires of my heart really were.

      I’m a “Type A” individual. The Air Force loves “Type A’s”. We always figure we have the approved solution for any task in life, no matter how hard or complicated. As well as having a lot of successes that I prefer to point to in my past, I have also had lots of failures. I loved it when the Colonel came to me and said he was looking to some “shakers and movers” to get a particular job done. “Sign me up for that!” I loved solving problems, fixing things and above all, getting lots of praise for being successful in what was asked of me.

      Those Colonels don’t tell you what to do when you try something in all that enthusiasm and you fail, or maybe even worse, tear something up or destroy progress because your “brilliant plan” wasn’t so brilliant. Plus, as I came to expect, they easily moved on to another “Type A” who would surely have better success than me without much comfort to me for my “nice try.”

     I knew there was a reason I married that beautiful, Christian woman the day after I graduated from the Air Force Academy. Most times, when I didn’t see a future ahead after a particular failure, Cheryl was delighting herself in the Lord and encouraging me to do the same. Of course, she couldn’t begin to understand the complexity of what I had done and how monumental my failure must have been. But she saw my grief, went to the Lord with it, and sometimes even succeeded in managing to help me see Him too. With that example, it became obvious that in the scheme of things, the Lord’s working in our lives was far more important than that little failure. More likely than not, He was using that example to teach me a few things I needed to learn: like a little humility, like I wasn’t nearly as important as I thought I was and that only what I did for Him would really last anyway. Wow.

     Years later, we have finished two careers, raised four great children, have two of the best grandchildren in the world and honestly would have a very hard time finding anyone who remembers any of those failures that I had thought were so monumental.

     I didn’t expect the love of my life to turn 65 and then three weeks later have a pretty major stroke. How do you expect me to delight in that Lord? Well, the answer is, He doesn’t. He didn’t say, “delight in everything that comes along.” He did say, “Delight in Me.”

     He did say, “In everything give thanks.” He did say, “rejoice evermore.” He did say, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” But, I have to admit, I’m finding it hard to get my heart to delight in the Lord who is allowing my sweetheart to struggle with this when I don’t want her to.

     The Lord surprises me from time to time. Cheryl reaches for things that aren’t there now. I figured that when she raised her hand during last week’s praise and worship that she was reaching for something. It didn’t immediately occur to me that she might still have the ability to raise her hand in praise like she has done so many times before because she is “delighting in the Lord.” Cheryl lost her verbal abilities and now, sometimes, isn’t even able to understand what I am asking her. But she surprised me when we were singing an old familiar hymn at church and I could gently hear her singing that years-old familiar tune, just “delighting in the Lord.” That brings me joy in my heart.

     The joy in my heart that I want is for Cheryl to be healed. We pray for it every day. That hasn’t happened yet, but we are still going to delight in the Lord.” I found in many crisis events in my life that if I delighted in the Lord…or at least “acknowledge Him in all my ways” (remember MY life verse?)…He would often bring about a joyful event that proved to be far more joyful than what I thought I had wanted in the first place.

     The last thing I want to do when I get to heaven and meet Jesus face to face is to have Him have to introduce Himself. I want to know Him so intimately during this brief seventy, eighty or ninety years that when I see Him, I will know Him better than any of the best friends I had in this life. I know that reading the Word every day can reveal Him in new ways. I know that being purposeful and consistent in daily prayer can draw me closer to Him and revel His will for my life. But I have learned that if I can delight myself in Him, treat Him like a friend as well as a father and look for His leading in everything I do, He will always stand true to His word and give me the real desires of my heart, not only in this life but in the life to come. Questions to ponder: Try to list all the things other than the Lord that you may have tried to find delight in during your life. Did they bring real joy to your heart? Can you describe some aspect of your life that you might describe as your “passion in life?” Did the Lord give that to you? What do you try hardest to delight in/to find the most joy from? Our spouse, children and grandchildren can bring us great delight. How can their love pale in comparison to the delight Jesus wants us to have in Him? Have you ever found that the joy of your heart that Jesus brought was different from what joy you thought the delights of your life were? What things can we do to increase how we find delight in Jesus? Other Scriptures to Consider: Psalm 38:9 My desire for the Lord and my groaning. Psalm 73:25, “…none on earth that I desire more than thee.” Isaiah 26:9, “I desired thee in the night, I seek thee early.” Psalm 42:2, “…my soul thirsteth for the living God.”