sleeplessinpool
May 13th 2003, 12:01 PM
"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the disires of thine heart."
(Psalm 37:4)
You know I get the impression sometimes that some folk have the understanding that Christianity is all about self denial and that the moment one embraces the faith life becomes morbid and uninteresting, but, of course (at least in theory) the exact opposite is the case. If anything, we only begin to live life in its fullest when we start to live it Gods way. One way of looking at it would be to view life as a blank cheque, and that God has offered to fill every need all the time. As a promise I believe it’s really worth further investigation on our part. In the New Testament we see Jesus backing up this amazing promise in John 15:7 with the following words, "As for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
Of course it is more than possible that you can cook up any number of different reactions to these statements.
1. There will be those who dismiss them as being too fantastic or even unrealistic and as a result dismiss them altogether.
2. There will be those who rub their hands together with joy, they will think they are on to a good thing and not even stop to think about what is being said and as a result will end up being disappointed and frustrated.
3. Finally we will see how others will accept the truth and understand the spiritual meaning of the promise, and therefore experience what is being offered.
But notice very carefully what is being stated and you will discover that it is a promise in the very terms of the precept. To help is more fully understand things it would be possible to paraphrase things in the following manner, "Delight in the Lord and thou mayest trust in thy desires; they will be the forerunner of blessings, the beginnings of their own realisation." When a person delights in God then their desires are of such a nature that God would be glorified by granting them and of course the receiving of them benefits us.
But (yes another!) we should note how the promise is not given indiscriminately to all and sundry! Lets be honest it would a total calamity for us and the world generally if the Lord was to give all men the desires of their hearts with out first giving consideration to the nature of those hearts! Let be honest, man is basically rather selfish and as a result his desires often have the tendency of being far from altruistic but rather self-indulgent and whimsical at best. (No need at this point to point out any examples as I am sure most of us can cook a few up.)
The key to this promise seems to be found in just one little word, "delight". What does this mean? In practical terms "delight" is about our delighting in the service of God and in the fellowship of Gods people; its about taking pleasure in reading and studying His word and living in communion with Him; its about delighting in total submission to his will, as the Psalmist said in Psalm 40:8 "I delight to do thy will, O my God." When the People of God find happiness in doing ALL these things then they are going to be in the position of a spiritual maturity of soul that what they ask for is granted!
This is one of those promises that shows the level to which God will answer the prayer requests of his people once they are fully and truly surrendered to Him and His will, is it any wonder that David was to cry "Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) When the heart is right, then we may not only dwell within the Kingdom but also enter the glorious realms of this promise.
(Psalm 37:4)
You know I get the impression sometimes that some folk have the understanding that Christianity is all about self denial and that the moment one embraces the faith life becomes morbid and uninteresting, but, of course (at least in theory) the exact opposite is the case. If anything, we only begin to live life in its fullest when we start to live it Gods way. One way of looking at it would be to view life as a blank cheque, and that God has offered to fill every need all the time. As a promise I believe it’s really worth further investigation on our part. In the New Testament we see Jesus backing up this amazing promise in John 15:7 with the following words, "As for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
Of course it is more than possible that you can cook up any number of different reactions to these statements.
1. There will be those who dismiss them as being too fantastic or even unrealistic and as a result dismiss them altogether.
2. There will be those who rub their hands together with joy, they will think they are on to a good thing and not even stop to think about what is being said and as a result will end up being disappointed and frustrated.
3. Finally we will see how others will accept the truth and understand the spiritual meaning of the promise, and therefore experience what is being offered.
But notice very carefully what is being stated and you will discover that it is a promise in the very terms of the precept. To help is more fully understand things it would be possible to paraphrase things in the following manner, "Delight in the Lord and thou mayest trust in thy desires; they will be the forerunner of blessings, the beginnings of their own realisation." When a person delights in God then their desires are of such a nature that God would be glorified by granting them and of course the receiving of them benefits us.
But (yes another!) we should note how the promise is not given indiscriminately to all and sundry! Lets be honest it would a total calamity for us and the world generally if the Lord was to give all men the desires of their hearts with out first giving consideration to the nature of those hearts! Let be honest, man is basically rather selfish and as a result his desires often have the tendency of being far from altruistic but rather self-indulgent and whimsical at best. (No need at this point to point out any examples as I am sure most of us can cook a few up.)
The key to this promise seems to be found in just one little word, "delight". What does this mean? In practical terms "delight" is about our delighting in the service of God and in the fellowship of Gods people; its about taking pleasure in reading and studying His word and living in communion with Him; its about delighting in total submission to his will, as the Psalmist said in Psalm 40:8 "I delight to do thy will, O my God." When the People of God find happiness in doing ALL these things then they are going to be in the position of a spiritual maturity of soul that what they ask for is granted!
This is one of those promises that shows the level to which God will answer the prayer requests of his people once they are fully and truly surrendered to Him and His will, is it any wonder that David was to cry "Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) When the heart is right, then we may not only dwell within the Kingdom but also enter the glorious realms of this promise.