Scripture:
Psalm 37:4-11 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. [6] He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. [7] Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! [8] Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. [9] For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. [10] In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. [11] But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.
Observation:
I wanted to make sure I knew a little bit about what we were going to go over this morning, so I looked up the word delight. It means take great pleasure in. So, with that in mind, what we see here is David telling us that if we focus our attention on GOD. Our hearts desires will be given to us. Then, what we see in verse 5 is how to make that happen. Surrendering our ways to HIM. David knew full well what this consisted of. He was anointed to be king in a pasture as a kid. He probably didn’t even fully understand what had just happened. But he surrendered to it. The next thing he knows, he is in the castle next to the king. Singing him songs. Then, on the battlefield, killing giants and all for the glory of GOD. When I think about how this must have taken place and the actions of a Shepard. I can almost hear David singing to GOD as he walks along the hillside as his sheep grazed on the tall grass. That’s how the Shepard would keep his sheep close to him. He would sing, and they would hear his voice. Think about it in the New Testament. Jesus says, “My sheep knows my voice.” David delighted himself in the LORD. So that day when he stepped onto the battlefield. GOD started putting HIS plan into motion. Moving Saul out of the way, yet building the people’s trust for David. I like verse 6. GOD will bring forth your righteousness. We don’t have to. HE will do that. I believe David had a good understanding of this. He trusted the LORD. When Saul’s jealousy was too much, David didn’t step up. He stepped out and let GOD do HIS thing. He knew he did not have to fight for it. GOD had already promised him he would be king. So he just delighted himself in the promises of GOD. His meekness allowed GOD to bring his promise into full view. We all know the story Saul dies on the battlefield, and David had absolutely nothing to do with it. David then steps into the place that he was promised, still having all the trust from the people and all because he took great pleasure in the LORD. He trusted HIM to do what HE said HE would do.
Application:
Sometimes, I think this is not happening fast enough, or it’s not going to happen at all. I think if I do this or if I do that, then we can get this done. No harm, no foul. Looking back on what GOD has promised. I see how it’s not for me to try to control. This has nothing to do with me. Or you for that matter where is your attention? Are you focusing on the promises or the promise maker? Are you looking at your ways, or do you take time to consider HIS? where is your pleasure? Is it in what you want or in his plan for you? I think if we were all honest, we would say…it’s in what I want. Listen, I know the bible says HE will give us the desires of our hearts. I think the part we miss is what it means to delight in HIM. Taking pleasure in HIM to me says… I want what HE wants. When my heart is in line with HIS… He will give me the desires of my heart. My point in all this so far is let’s get our hearts lined up with HIS. Now, I want to dive into the word “meekness.” What does it mean? Well, Pastor Chad tells us it means power under control. Looking at Jesus, we can see this. At any time, HE could have called angles from heaven and done whatever he wanted to. David could have killed Saul and stepped into the promise he was given. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. When we delight in the LORD. We let HIM do things HIS way. Trusting that the end result will be exactly what HE promised.
Prayer:
Father, we want what you want. We trust that you will bring about your promises, and you don’t need our help to do so. We want our desires to line up with yours. Knowing that when they do. There is no reason for you not to grant them. Your plan is perfect, and your timing is no different. We know that the enemy wants us to think, it’s just not going to happen. BUT YOU GOD do not make promises you don’t keep. All your promises are yes and amen. We surrender our will, even when we think we might have a faster, better way. We trust you and your way taking pleasure in the fact that you will never fail. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus I pray amen