Psalm 37: 4
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
This week we are looking at potential guidelines for encountering the challenges that will come in 2024. We are drawing words of advice written by King David in Psalm 37. Verse one encouraged us to not fret about the “bad guys” or even those whom we experience as outshining us. Focus on God and not on our perceived problem. Yesterday he then encouraged us to trust that God is guiding us, walking with us, and freeing us to “do good” and not “lean on our own understanding.” I do not think that denies the need to grieve and lament but it defines the context of our grief. I do not need to be happy that my husband is in heaven and I am here alone. But as I look to God who walks with me unseen and holds my future and me even as he holds my husband, I can relax and have a good cry on his shoulder.
Verse four encourages us to “delight.” That is hard to get our hearts around because we can think of delight like cheering for our football team when it wins. The Internet dictionary defines delight when used as a verb, “to please (someone) greatly.” The scene that comes to mind is my little one-ish son learning to walk. I would hold him and point him to his father a short distance away. We cheered wildly when he crossed the distance and when he fell half way – “good try, let’ do it again.” One day the teenager next door was home from school and offered my son a cookie. That little guy got up and walked across the gravel yard to his hero! Both scenes delighted me – failure but trying and love in motion.
Delight in God takes different forms. I did not delight in the decline of my husband but I focused my mind on thanking God for the 47 years I never expected to have and the peace of just sitting by his side as he struggled with the disease. Perhaps delight is not always laughing and clapping. Perhaps there can even be delight during times of lament by focusing on God, the blessings, and then trusting that we are not alone!
Eric Liddell, in “Chariots of Fire” to questions about the rigor of training for the Olympics, responds to his sister, “I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.” God delighted in Liddell even when he was dealing with a challenge.
Ponder Psalm 22:8 ‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’ Lord, let me delight in you and may I be a delight to you, even on tough days!
On the Way to Wonder 