Psalm 37 is my favorite chapter in the Bible because God has breathed hope into my life through the words of this chapter. He’s instructed and nurtured me. He often brings me back to this chapter at crucial moments. He reminds me who He is, what He does, and what He wants me to do. You’d think I’d know everything there is to know about this chapter by now since I’ve been reading it for years. But once again I learned something new. Well, I learned two significant things.
Before I share the new things I learned, I want to share that this week has been a particularly difficult week. Always in our lives there is joy and sorrow, trials and triumphs, happening every day, but this week has felt like the weight of that scale is a little heavier on the sorrow and trial side than on the joy and triumph side.
But there’s definitely been joy and triumph this week too. My oldest daughter, Dani, got offered a job in her teaching profession that she’s been waiting for quite some time. God came in the 11th hour. As she would say, “He came at 11:59.” Nevertheless, He arrived and opened the door. Hallelujah!
Even so, this morning I sat on my floor in my prayer corner and sobbed. The heart has to release pain, grief, and suffering somehow and when it does, it’s really good to have someone talented in comforting by your side. Today, that person for me was God Himself.
These are the times He leads me back to Psalm 37.
He had me focused on the first few verses, which He often does. Psalm 37:3-7 has power-packed Scripture. I kept being drawn to Psalm 37:4.
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
I wondered if this verse was a promise because I have a major desire. So curious Michelle got out her resources to tap into some theologians who probably would know the answer. I found my answer from John Piper.
LORD
Before I give you the answer to my promise question, I want to share a surprise learning. When we’re reading the Bible, and we see the all-caps LORD, it means something specific. Piper instructed:
“Whenever you see the all caps LORD in the English version that means it is a reference to the particular personal name of the God of Israel, not to a generic name of God. And that is what is here. Delight yourself in Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God and Father of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who descended to the world to die for sinners and rise again and establish an eternal kingdom. That is the God that is being known and delighted in here.”
Oh my goodness. Do you know how many times I’ve edited “LORD” to “Lord” when I’ve referenced Scripture? I had no idea the importance of the all-cap LORD. I won’t ever make that mistake again. I will never edit LORD to Lord again. I promise.
Promise
Piper says Psalm 37:4 is three things:
- a condition
“So, there is this condition of words abiding in you, presumably because when words of Jesus really abide and take root as our passion and our satisfaction, that shapes what we pray for so that the answers come more surely, more regularly.”
- a cause and effect and shaping
“The reason those who delight themselves in the Lord receive the desires of their heart is not just because one causes the other, but because one shapes the other. Delighting in God supremely determines, shapes the kinds of desires that we have in our heart.”
This information brings deeper insight and understanding to me.
Still, I believe there’s promise in this verse, and it centers on the word “will.”
Will means to be given, to be bestowed, to be provided, to be granted.
When God says He will that’s Him determining to grant.
What Piper stresses is that our desires need to be in alignment with God’s desires, and our desires need to be shaped by God Himself.
I wholeheartedly agree with Piper.
Pure delight is exactly what Jesus desires from us and desires to give us.
(If you want to understand more about pure delight, read my blog post Pure Delight.)
So we have a lot to be hopeful for. When we delight in the LORD and we desire something of Him that we know abides with His Word, we can be sure He will grant it to us. We just don’t know when.
Yes and Amen
I believe God has promised me a Yes and Amen to a particular desire of my heart. I can’t share with you what this specific desire of my heart is, but I’ve been both praying and waiting for it for years. It’s hard. But I will not give up.
You see God promises to restore (1 Peter 5:10), and He also promises to make all things new (Revelations 21:5).
I believe Jesus will both make things new and restore. Even if I have to wait until 11:59, I know Jesus is faithful. He will keep His promises to me.
I love praising and worshipping Jesus to Chris Tomlin music. Today, I did so multiple times to his song “Yes and Amen.”
All God’s promises are Yes and Amen!
When Jesus says, “I will” that’s a promise. If saying “I will” is God’s promise, then when I say “I will” that’s my promise too.
So today I publicly declare:
I will trust in the LORD: Yes and Amen!
I will delight in the LORD: Yes and Amen!
I will commit my way to the LORD: Yes and Amen!
I will be still before the LORD: Yes and Amen!
I will wait patiently for the LORD to fulfill His promises to me: Yes and Amen!
My confidence is in GOD HIMSELF, the LORD. I can trust Yahweh because all of His promises are Yes and Amen.
Prayer
Faithful LORD. Shape our desires. Shape our desires to be what Your desires are. If we have any desires in our hearts that are not Your desires, then, LORD please cut them out of us. Determine our desires, LORD. Help us to delight in You and grant us the desires of our hearts.
Faithful LORD. Forever You will be.
Yes and Amen!
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