“Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
~~ Psalm 37:4 ~~
When I first read this verse, it sounded like it was saying, “If I delight myself in God, then I’ll get what I want”, but is that really what this is saying?? Let’s dive in and find out!
Delight yourself in the Lord
The Hebrew word for “delight” is <ʻânag> and it means to make soft, pliable; to live or spend in enjoyment. Looking at the word “make” in the first part of that definition, if I have to “make” something be a certain way, then that tells me it isn’t naturally occurring. I have to “make” it so. To “make” is purposeful and intentional. Now let’s look at the definitions of “soft” and “pliable”.
- Soft is defined as pleasing or agreeable to the senses; bringing ease, comfort or quiet; emotionally responsive; susceptible to influence; compliant.
- Pliable means something is supple enough to bend freely or repeatedly without breaking; yielding readily to others; marked by an inclination to please or oblige
So…what exactly are we to make soft and pliable? The answer is the word immediately following “Delight” – YOURSELF. Make yourself soft and pliable in the Lord.
PAUSE TO PONDER what that looks like for you personally? For me, a couple examples would be: Instead of getting fussed up when God changes or interrupts my schedule (which is a real struggle for this schedule-following, list-maker), I yield to Him when He sends me in a direction I was not planning to go. Another example of making myself soft and pliable with God would be that I must yield to Him when He stretches me to love someone who is less than easy to love. I must make myself soft towards that person as I yield to the Lord. Now that I’ve given you a peek into my struggles, ask the Spirit of God to shine a light on areas of your heart and mind that may be less than soft and pliable to Him.
To sum up what we have uncovered so far, I think Jeremiah 17:9 in the Aramaic Bible in Plain English explains it pretty clearly – “The heart of every man is hard…” (that’s directly opposite of soft in case you wondered–haha); therefore, I have to intentionally and purposely make my heart soft and pliable with God, because everything I do “flows from my heart” (Proverbs 4:23).
Ok, let’s move on to the second part of the Hebrew definition of delight – “to live or spend in enjoyment”. We know that this verse tells us to “delight yourself in the Lord”. So in light of that, what does “to live or spend in enjoyment” mean?
PAUSE TO PONDER and do some self-examination. Ask the Spirit to shine a light on ways that you may be finding delight in things besides the Lord. What do you love to spend time doing? Is it a show you look forward to watching each week? Could it be your favorite hobby? Or perhaps your time with friends? Your favorite meal? This really convicted me. If I’m being honest, I could say yes to each of those questions, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.
Summing up the phrase “delight yourself in the Lord” – It’s the choice to purposefully make yourself yield to God’s purposes and plans and make Him that in which you find enjoyment. When you do that, His word says, “He will give you the desires of your heart.” Let’s look at that phrase next.
And He will give you the desires of your heart
I think that the connection of this phrase to the previous phrase in this verse is of more importance than the actual word definitions.
PAUSE TO PONDER this with me. If I have made myself (my heart) soft and pliable (delight) with God (in the Lord), then that purposeful, intentional choice will reshape my desires. I will want what God wants, making it possible for Him to give me the desires of my heart. Delighting myself in the Lord transforms me and aligns me with the heart of God. These lyrics to the bridge of an old worship song were brought to mind. I think they really sum up the heart that is choosing to delight in the Lord. May we make it our prayer as we go through each and every day.
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity