Psalm 37:4-7

⁴ Take delight 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 do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

This passage calls us to delight in the Lord. What is delighting in the Lord? To me, delighting in the Lord means making Him my everything, making Him number one in my life. It means to live your life for Him. When we delight in God in this way, we find our hearts to be changed.

This transformation, this changing of the heart, occurs when our selfish desires are thrown out the window and replaced with God’s desires. Our heart is rid of sinful wishes, and rather, filled with God. It is a pretty crazy transformation. For me, going from just “liking” God to “delighting” in God took more than a few days, it took months. I still have trouble delighting in God all the time. We are sinners and we still let our sinful and selfish desires get in the way of what God truly wants for us.

This passage also reminds me of this message: Each of us has been called to serve God in a unique way. The desires of your heart are not to be ignored. God will use your passions to turn your life into a masterpiece of serving Him.

In order to be shaped by God in this way, our delight must be first in the Lord. That should be our priority. “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

You must delight in the LORD first before you can have the desires God wants you to have. Once you delight in the Lord, you’re making him your desire. So what the Lord desires for you, you will also desire.

If you delight in God and you feel a strong tugging at your heart, it is probably the Holy Spirit leading you. It is God’s desire being pressed on your heart. Pay attention to this tugging, this calling. By listening, you are one step closer to the next phase of your life that God has chosen and planned for you.

Second, we must trust in Him. “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this.”

And this is more than just a simple trust. We are called to COMMIT our way to the Lord. This means making Him the only one you follow. Not following other people’s or even your plan for your life, but to commit to God’s plan and His plan alone.

If we do this…”He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”

We shouldn’t be scared of giving our life to God, giving him the steering wheel for our life and letting Him take control. God reminds us that He will make His light shine through us while we live on earth, and that we will be rewarded in heaven.

God is the artist and we are the paint brushes. He will use us to create a perfect masterpiece. Through Him, you will create a perfect picture that God had planned from the very beginning.

Third, we must wait patiently for Him to act in our lives. “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.”

God has put a lot of things on my heart as ways I can serve Him in my life.

I want to work at a Christian summer camp and help little kids grow closer to God.

I want to leave everything behind and literally give an entire year just too solely serve God.

I want to work in nonprofit.

I want to do all of these “exotic” things to serve God. Even this summer, I began to get really anxious about starting school because I wanted to start serving God at college. But I need to wait patiently and focus on how I can serve God right now in my life, right this very moment. I need to wait patiently, and God will tell me when the moment is right to take up one of these opportunities.

This verse also reminds me to take time in my day to be still and listen to God, to escape from all the hustle and bustle in life and be in the presence of God. To be still.

The last part of verse 7 also has an essential message – “do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”

It reminds us that people around us may be succeeding in various ways and we might get jealous. But God reminds us that all these worldly successes are not what He wants us to be focused on. God has planned many great successes for each of us to accomplish in our life.

Prayer:

Lord, you are our one strength, our number one. We want to live our lives for you. Help us to delight in you and commit to your plan for our lives. Remind us to be still every day, so we can be overwhelmed by your glorious presence. We love you, and we will forever serve you alone. Amen.