Reason #122
"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires." - Psalm 37:4
I remember the first time I heard this verse. I went on a Chrysiallis (Walk to Emmaus) the summer before my senior year in high school. I had the sweetest roommate, named Christian, who shared this verse with me. I was so amazed by the words of this verse. It seemed so simple. Delight and you will get. Easy enough! And so for many years, I did what I thought was "delighting" to the Lord. I thought about what would delight me, were I Him, and I proceeded to do those things. I figured that if I lived a certain way, did "good" things, then He would be delighted, thus He would give me my heart's desires. But I so often left the "s" off of desires and this is the shape in which the verse was lived out. "Do the things that you think will make God happy with you and if you do, He'll give you your desire."
Desire, a deep longing. Something that gives great pleasure, enjoyement. And so for too many years, I read this verse incorrectly. Selfishly trying to mold God into this Heavenly genie. It made complete sense to me. Why wouldn't He want to give me my desire if I lived a good life? And I had a one track mind. A mind focused on my desire. A desire that God had planted but a desire that I tried to control, map out. A desire that I wouldn't let go of. A desire that was fed by fear.
And then He broke me. Stripped me of it all and I couldn't believe it. Things like this weren't supposed to happen to me. I had been a "delighting" girl. I did things "right" thus I was entitled to having my desire met and fulfilled. And I wasn't the least bit happy about it. It made absolutely no sense to me.
So as I walked through the lowest valley of my life, this verse came back to my mind. And for months and months I prayed for truth. For wisdom and understanding. And it's amazing how God works, divinely unveiling your eyes when you least expect it. Making things fall into place when you weren't planning it.
Delight. Great pleasure, enjoyment, fulfillment. I began to find these things as I trudged through this mess of life. I found them because I began delighting myself in the Lord. I had no where else to go, no one else to look to. My current cirucmstances were in no way delightful to Him, and I knew that. But I so desperately needed Him. And the more I began to delight in Him, I began to find great pleasure. Fulfillment like I had never experienced before. A joy that was unexplainable. And I came to see that even if our circumstances don't seem delighting to the Lord, we can still take delight in the Lord. And a burden began to lift. But my short-term memory kicked back in and I began trying to be "delightful" again.
And there was that desire. It hadn't left. It was still there, haunting me. Seemingly unreachable. Unattainable. And I was really quite unhappy about it. I had delighted only to be found in a undelightful situation. And another delightful situation would appear only to, once again, become undelightful. Why would He give me a desire that He wouldn't meet? That seemed quite unfair. But I kept trusting that His word is truth. He had proved it to me many a time and if part of it is true, that means it's all true. So I took this new lesson of delighting in the Lord and tried my best to do that. Don't be delightful, just delight in.
And as I sat on the edge of my bath tub Sunday afternoon, it finally clicked. When you delight in the Lord, find extreme pleasure in His presence, allow Him to fill you, fill that deep longing, He does. But He fills it with His desires. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will fill your heart with His desires. Desires that become your desires. Desires that He desires to meet. A desire that He placed there so long ago was being met because I was depending on Him to fill it. And I finally realized that there is an "s" on the end of desires because He was just giving them to me one after another after another. And simply because I was delighting in, letting Him give me the things He knew my heart needed more than I ever knew.
And I realize how much fear has kept my desires from being met. But as I continued to fall more in love with Him by delighting in Him, I remembered He said that "perfect love drives out all fear," (1 John 4:18) and so when I finally let go, finally quit trying so hard and being so afraid, He did it. A desire given to me. And after years of trying, I came to see that I had it all wrong. When His desires collided with mine, a beautiful thing happened. Unexpected. Divine. And this planner of a girl was caught off guard. So I praise the Lord that He never gave me my desires but took them away and replaced them with the ones He knew my heart needed from the very start. It all makes sense now.
And I have come to see that when we truly delight, it is delightful.
"He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me." - 2 Samuel 22:20
I remember the first time I heard this verse. I went on a Chrysiallis (Walk to Emmaus) the summer before my senior year in high school. I had the sweetest roommate, named Christian, who shared this verse with me. I was so amazed by the words of this verse. It seemed so simple. Delight and you will get. Easy enough! And so for many years, I did what I thought was "delighting" to the Lord. I thought about what would delight me, were I Him, and I proceeded to do those things. I figured that if I lived a certain way, did "good" things, then He would be delighted, thus He would give me my heart's desires. But I so often left the "s" off of desires and this is the shape in which the verse was lived out. "Do the things that you think will make God happy with you and if you do, He'll give you your desire."
Desire, a deep longing. Something that gives great pleasure, enjoyement. And so for too many years, I read this verse incorrectly. Selfishly trying to mold God into this Heavenly genie. It made complete sense to me. Why wouldn't He want to give me my desire if I lived a good life? And I had a one track mind. A mind focused on my desire. A desire that God had planted but a desire that I tried to control, map out. A desire that I wouldn't let go of. A desire that was fed by fear.
And then He broke me. Stripped me of it all and I couldn't believe it. Things like this weren't supposed to happen to me. I had been a "delighting" girl. I did things "right" thus I was entitled to having my desire met and fulfilled. And I wasn't the least bit happy about it. It made absolutely no sense to me.
So as I walked through the lowest valley of my life, this verse came back to my mind. And for months and months I prayed for truth. For wisdom and understanding. And it's amazing how God works, divinely unveiling your eyes when you least expect it. Making things fall into place when you weren't planning it.
Delight. Great pleasure, enjoyment, fulfillment. I began to find these things as I trudged through this mess of life. I found them because I began delighting myself in the Lord. I had no where else to go, no one else to look to. My current cirucmstances were in no way delightful to Him, and I knew that. But I so desperately needed Him. And the more I began to delight in Him, I began to find great pleasure. Fulfillment like I had never experienced before. A joy that was unexplainable. And I came to see that even if our circumstances don't seem delighting to the Lord, we can still take delight in the Lord. And a burden began to lift. But my short-term memory kicked back in and I began trying to be "delightful" again.
And there was that desire. It hadn't left. It was still there, haunting me. Seemingly unreachable. Unattainable. And I was really quite unhappy about it. I had delighted only to be found in a undelightful situation. And another delightful situation would appear only to, once again, become undelightful. Why would He give me a desire that He wouldn't meet? That seemed quite unfair. But I kept trusting that His word is truth. He had proved it to me many a time and if part of it is true, that means it's all true. So I took this new lesson of delighting in the Lord and tried my best to do that. Don't be delightful, just delight in.
And as I sat on the edge of my bath tub Sunday afternoon, it finally clicked. When you delight in the Lord, find extreme pleasure in His presence, allow Him to fill you, fill that deep longing, He does. But He fills it with His desires. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will fill your heart with His desires. Desires that become your desires. Desires that He desires to meet. A desire that He placed there so long ago was being met because I was depending on Him to fill it. And I finally realized that there is an "s" on the end of desires because He was just giving them to me one after another after another. And simply because I was delighting in, letting Him give me the things He knew my heart needed more than I ever knew.
And I realize how much fear has kept my desires from being met. But as I continued to fall more in love with Him by delighting in Him, I remembered He said that "perfect love drives out all fear," (1 John 4:18) and so when I finally let go, finally quit trying so hard and being so afraid, He did it. A desire given to me. And after years of trying, I came to see that I had it all wrong. When His desires collided with mine, a beautiful thing happened. Unexpected. Divine. And this planner of a girl was caught off guard. So I praise the Lord that He never gave me my desires but took them away and replaced them with the ones He knew my heart needed from the very start. It all makes sense now.
And I have come to see that when we truly delight, it is delightful.
"He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me." - 2 Samuel 22:20
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