3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Psalm 37:3-5
Delight, enjoy and take pleasure thyself also in the Lord. Notice the result for doing so:
…and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart
verse 4b
What is suggested in delighting or satisfying ourselves in the Lord?
- A supreme loyalty with Him.
- Delighting ourselves in the Lord:
- Implies a supreme satisfaction in Him.
- Satisfaction in God, always implies delight.
- Delight in God implies universal confidence in Him.
- Delight in God implies universal submission of our will to His.
- Delight in God implies delight in obeying Him or delight in His service.
The promise implies that we shall have those things on which we set our affections. In other words, our desire shall be gratified, provided and satisfied.
Why this promise is thus conditioned?
- Because without this condition, the promise would be unsafe to the universe.
- Whosoever delights himself in the Lord can never desire anything inconsistent with the will of God.
- God delights to bestow that on which the heart is set that delights in Him.
Important things to consider:
- Those who delight themselves in God will, of course, manifest great cheerfulness of mind.
- Because this delight in God is of itself a cheerful state of mind.
- Because they have the desires of the heart.
- From what has been said, we may see why so few prayers prevail with God.
- When there is a delight in God, the supreme desire will be for union and communion with God.
- An individual who delights himself in the Lord will postpone everything that comes in competition with communion with God.
- If we delight ourselves in God, He will delight Himself in us. He will delight Himself in us just in proportion as we delight ourselves in Him.
- The happiness which the soul, that delights in God, finds in Him.
And just in proportion, as we give ourselves up to find our delight in God, just in that proportion shall we have delight in God.