When defining delight, there are two sides to the same coin. As a noun, it means to please greatly, as a verb it means pleasure. We all have things that we take pleasure in. To take pleasure is to be pleased with something or someone. We take pleasure in things by enjoying the comforts of a nice home, a great meal at a famous restaurant, or a sporting event where our team is winning. We take great pleasure in personal accomplishments, or spending time with those who love us. These are only a few of the things we take pleasure in. In our society, we seem to live for pleasure, as soon as one is enjoyed another is on our minds. However, for a Christian, our greatest pleasure, or delight, should come from our relationship with the Lord. Psalm 37:4 teaches us that we are to delight in the Lord. The commentator Albert Barnes explains the term delight here like this, “that we should seek our happiness in God – in his being, his perfections, his friendship, and his love.”
Psalm 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
While there are many things on earth that we cherish and love dearly, the love for them should spring from our relationship with God. The family we have, the friends, and material goods, all are gifts from God, and the more love we have for God, the more we will love and cherish the people and things He has provided.
In Psalm 37:4, we see that there is a promise at the end of the command. It states He will give us the desires of our hearts. We must understand that this statement taken out of context is not a promise to those who are not truly seeking Him first. I’ve heard many well-meaning Christians say, “God wants me to be happy and He will give me the desires of my heart.” They have taken this verse to mean if they want something then God will grant it. This is the “name it and claim it attitude.” What they fail to understand is that it is not their desire for a thing that gains them what they want, it is their obedience to the command to delight in the Lord.
God is much more concerned with our obedience than He is with making us happy. In I Samuel 15, the Israelites were commanded to kill all the Amalekites. They were a nation of false gods and were enemies of the one true God. God had placed a judgment on them and was using His people to execute the plan. However, they obeyed according to their desires, not God’s, and His answer was I Samuel 15:22. He is more pleased with our obedience than anything else we can do.
I Samuel 15:22 “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
When we place God first in our lives, we will love the things he loves and our happiness in Him will determine our desires. Our desires will be in line with what is right and good. When our happiness is in Him, like any good father he grants our desires.
When we love God and are truly acquainted with who He is, we will take great pleasure in Him. His attributes of holiness, love, grace, mercy and the power He showed in creation will overwhelm us. When thinking upon Him we cannot complain, our thoughts will be on Him and not ourselves. In Him, we have someone we can confide in from the depths of our hearts. When we delight in Him, we seek Him when things are great, and we seek Him when things go wrong. He is the first one we turn to in all situations. Our desire is to talk to Him first in the day and last in the night. The one who delights in the Lord finds everything he needs in turning away from all of creation to spend time with the UNCREATED ONE.
