Delight In the Lord

"Delight thyself also in the LORD: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

"Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass."

Psalm 37:4-5

I have heard Psalm 37:4 several times in my life. I have even quoted it many times.
Which is why I am ashamed to admit- I don't quote verse 5 very often, if ever.

The question I ask myself is-
Why don't I quote verse 5?
Verse 5 is where the secret lies for getting the desires of our heart!

So- the question arises- How do we get the desires of our heart?

Let's take a moment and look at some definitions-

Delight:
(From Webster's 1828 Dictionary)
A High degree of pleasure, or satisfaction of mind; joy.
That which gives great pleasure; that which affords delight

Delight is a more permanent pleasure than joy, 
and not dependent on sudden excitement.

Based on the above definition, Do I delight in the Lord?
Does my greatest joy and satisfaction come from Jehovah?

If the answer is no, then I need to do some serious soul searching!

I really like the second part- Delight is a more permanent pleasure than joy.
If the Lord is truly my delight, than it will not matter what is going on around me.
I will still find delight in my Heavenly Father.


Commit:
(From Webster's 1828 Dictionary)
Literally, to send to or upon; to throw, put or lay upon.
To give in trust; to put into the hands or power of another; to entrust

Have I committed my way to the Lord? 
According to the definition, to commit my way to the Lord means to completely 
give Him control. To place it in His hands and entrust the outcome to Him!

Trust:
(From Webster's 1828 Dictionary)
Confidence; a reliance or resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, 
justice, friendship or other sound principle of another person.

Read the above definition a couple times. Let the words sink in.
The verse says- Trust also in Him.
Let's replace the word trust- 
Rest your mind on the justice of the Lord.
Or how about this one-
Place your Confidence in Him.

Once you commit your way to the Lord, you must keep it there.
How do you do that? 
By trusting that the Lord will do what is best for your life!

So how do we get the desires of our heart?
Delight in the Lord.
Commit your way to the Lord.
Trust in the Lord.

What I find so absolutely fascinating about these verses, is the fact that even 
though "He will give thee the desires of thine heart" is in the middle of the verses, 
the two verses in their entirety are the road map to complete joy!

Delight.
Commit.
Trust.

When we continually seek to delight in the Lord, commit our way to Him, 
and trust in Him, He is faithful to give us our desires.

That doesn't mean we are going to get a Lamborghini, a mansion in Beverly Hills,
or anything else materialistic that we might 'desire' in this life.

What it means is that the Lord will change our desires to fit what He has 
in store for our lives.  

So, my brothers and sisters, may we all learn to more fully
Delight,
Commit,
and
Trust
in the plans that our Heavenly Father has in store for our future!