Delight Yourself In The Lord

[Ps 37:1-5]

Ps 37:4-5 (ESV) – [4] Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. [5] Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

Let’s take a look at what David is saying here.

Ps 37:1-3 (ESV) – [1] Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! [2] For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. [3] Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

He says, in verses 1 and 2, fret not, the word translated fret means to burn, or get heated up. David’s point was, cool down, chill out. When we see evil in the world, we ought to have a holy anger at sin according to Ephesians 4:26, but “fret not yourself; it tends only to evil (v. 8).

David is telling us that the wicked are temporary, and will one day be gone. You can see this throughout this psalm (vv. 9, 22, 28, 34, 38). They are like grass that either fades away, or is cut down and burned.

Then in verse 3 he says, “Trust in the Lord and do good.” Actually, a fretful heart is not a trusting heart, because it lacks joy and peace (Rom 15:13). Faith and good works go together, so we should always do good as we wait on the Lord (v. 7). Love your enemies, do good to them; do good to all people (Lk 6:35; Gal 6:10).

In David’s situation, some of God’s people were tempted to leave the land (see, Ruth 1; 1Sam 26:19), which was the same as saying God wasn’t faithful and couldn’t be trusted. But David urged them to stay in the land and trust God for what they needed (v. 27), since each tribe and family of Israel had its assigned inheritance which was not to pass into other hands. The Lord promised to care for the land of the faithful. The promise in verse 3 could be translated, “enjoy the safe pastures, feed on his faithfulness,” or, “enjoy the security of the land.” If we are faithful to God he will be faithful to us. Trusting the Lord is a key theme in this psalm (vv. 4, 5, 7, 34, 39).

Ps 37:4-5 (ESV) – [4] Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. [5] Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

Delight: Heb. word, anag (aw-nag’). A verb meaning to be delicate, to take delight. It is used of being pampered, feminine as a woman (Dt 28:56; Jer 6:2); of keeping oneself clean, neat. It is, however, used of taking delight and pleasure in God (Job 22:26; Isa 55:2).¹

This reminds me of a slang word used in some old western movies; in my best old prospector’s voice, “You may try, but I don’t think Zeke’s going to cotton to it.” It’s usually negative and means to get along with, or to agree with: She didn’t cotton with hypocrites. He don’t cotton with the bureaucrats in Washington. Similar idioms I can think of are; “It rubs me the wrong way.” or “It sets my teeth on edge.”

Delight in the Lord (v. 4) The word translated delight comes from a root word that means to be brought up in luxury to be pampered. It’s talking about the abundance of the blessings we have in the Lord himself, totally apart from what He gives us. To lay hold of the blessings and ignore the One who blesses would be idolatry.

In Christ Jesus, we have all God’s treasures, and we need no other. If we truly delight in the Lord, then the most important desire of our heart will be to know Him better, so that we can delight in Him even more, and the Lord will satisfy that desire! This is not a promise for people who want things, but for those who want more of God in their lives.

Lord: A noun meaning God. YHWH. Jehovah. “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex 3:14), the One who was, who is, and who always will be (cf. Rev 11:17).

Desires: Heb. mish’ala (mish-aw-law’) a request – desire, petition. It indicates a plea or solicitation for something. Here it speaks of a plea for victory over one’s evil enemies (cf. Ps 20:5-6). The Lord answers the desires, and petitions of those who delightfully serve Him (Ps 37:4).²

Heart: Heb. Leb (labe) is usually rendered as heart, has a wide range of meaning. It can mean the heart as a human physical organ (Ex 28:29; 1Sam 25:37; 2Kgs 9:24). However, it usually refers to some aspect of the immaterial inner self or being since the heart is considered to be the seat of one’s inner nature as well as one of its components. It can be used in a general sense (1Kgs 8:23; Ps 84:2; Jer 3:10); or it can be used of a specific aspect of personality: the mind (Gen 6:5; Dt 29:4; Neh 6:8); the will (Ex 35:5; 2Chr 12:14; Job 11:13); the emotions (Gen 6:6 [Note that God is the subject]; 1Sam 24:5; 25:31). In addition, the word can also allude to the inside or middle (Ex 15:8; Dt 4:11).³

Way: Heb. derek (deh’-rek) meaning path, journey, or way. This common word is to walk or to tread, from which the basic idea of this word comes: the path that is traveled. The word may refer to a physical path or road (Gen 3:24; Num 22:23; 1Kgs 13:24) or to the journey along a road (Gen 30:36; Ex 5:3; 1Sam 15:18). However, this word is most often used as a metaphor to refer to the pathways of one’s life, suggesting the pattern of life (Pr 3:6); the obedient life (Dt 8:6); the righteous life (2Sam 22:22; Jer 5:4); the wicked life (1Kgs 22:52). The ways are described as ways of darkness (Pr 2:13); pleasant ways (Pr 3:17); and wise ways (Pr 6:6).⁴

This scripture is not saying the Lord will give us whatever we want, but it is saying that when we trust in the Lord, He will put His desires in our hearts. Notice that we are to delight ourselves in the Lord. This doesn’t happen accidentally or automatically. We have to intentionally do this.

Commit: Heb. galal (gaw-lal’) a verb meaning to roll, to remove, to commit, to trust. The root idea of the word is to roll. The Hebrew word often refers to the rolling of stones (Gen 29:8; Josh 10:18; Pr 26:27) as well as other tangible objects. It can also describe abstract concepts, such as reproach being rolled off (removed) from someone (Ps. 119:22) or one’s ways and works rolled onto (committed, entrusted) to someone (especially God) (Ps 37:5; Pr 16:3). This important root word is used to form many other names and words (cf. Gilgal in Josh 5:9).⁵

The word “way” was translated from the Hebrew word, “DEREK,” meaning “a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action.” So this is literally telling us to roll the road, or course, of our lives over onto the Lord.

When we aren’t doing our own thing, but have direction from the Lord, and are walking the path He has chosen for us, we just trust Him to direct our paths (Pr 3:6), and He brings it to pass.

Say this out loud:

I keep my heart clean and sensitive toward the Lord. And as I trust in the Lord, He puts His desires in my heart. This is my favorite way of receiving direction from the Lord.

I roll my way of life onto the Lord. I depend on the Lord, and He accomplishes His will through me.

The Lord answers the desires, and petitions of those who delightfully serve Him. His will becomes our desire, and of his will comes to pass.

God bless you my friend,

— Dwight Hammond