Of delights and desires

Psalm 37:1-20

February 7

Parents, don’t you love to reward your children when they are trusting in you? How can we think that God is not also like that? Today’s reading is a passage that I’ve used a lot in helping people see God’s will in their lives.

I call it the headlight principle. When we drive down a dark road with our headlights on, we don’t have to see beyond our headlights. We don’t have to see the destination as long as we follow the little bit of light that we see for our path. The further we go, the further our lights shine. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart.

In Psalm 31 and all of the psalms in between there and Psalm 37, there has been the proclamations of "trust" and here again, like chapter 31, both words translated as trust are in Psalm 37, in verses 3 and 5 (Hebrew word batach, meaning confidence) and again in verse 40 (Hebrew: chacah, meaning take refuge).

What can we trust God to do?
1) Give us our hearts’ desires when we delight in Him (37:4);
2) Provide us rest when we are content in him (37:7);
3) Lay up a good inheritance for the meek, see also the Beatitudes, Matt. 5:5 (37:11);
4) Make more in our little than the unrighteous have with their abundance (37:17,19).

The psalmist assures us that God knows the days of the upright (37:17). He knows our destination and the time of our arrival. His word, Psalm 119 will tell us later, is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.

Let us abide in His word and He will light our way.