Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Has anyone heard this verse quoted? Or quoted it to yourself? I have. And quoted it poorly. I remember when I was younger I felt like this was a jackpot verse. God was going to give me what I wanted! That's what I heard when I read it. The part that stood out to me was NOT "delight yourself in the Lord"...it was "he will give you the desires of your heart."
Wow.
It's amazing what selfish and self-centered beings we are.
It's so obvious in my own heart and mind.
I was born ALL ABOUT ME.
But, because of God's good grace, He has given me a heart that's for Him.
And while I still battle the sinful, selfish flesh, (and some days I am feeling the intensity of that battle) my heart is for Him.
God has been ripping me away from selfishness and pride, and showing me how to make the Gospel the "obsession of my heart", as Milton Vincent puts it in "A Gospel Primer" (BUY THIS LITTLE BOOK!!!)
Today I read "And He has created me with the intention that I might glorify Him by finding my soul's delight in Him and by living in joyful obedience to Him in all of my ways."
Some wonderful verses that went with this section:
Psalm 16:11 "...in your presence is fullness of joy; In your right hand there are pleasures forever."
Psalm 37:4 (I already quoted above)
Romans 11:36 "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever."
I glorify the Lord when I am delighted in Him alone.
And here's the thing...I can be delighted and filled with the "fullness of joy" Psalm 16 is talking about, even when my life feels topsy-turvy.
Even when I don't know what the next day is going to bring.
Even when I feel on the outside, unimportant, unpopular, or uncool.
God and His gospel is my satisfaction and joy. In HIM is all fullness of joy.
I am so pleased with that Word this morning.
Thank you God for coffee and for reading this before I start my day. How I need it!
4 comments:
That's exactly why my blog is titled LEARNING to Delight! Thanks for sharing that this morning!
Thanks for this encouraging word Jenn!
i'm not a big blog follower but when it happens i like to check in on you :) i love your thoughts and your heart. i did buy the gospel primer and look forward to reading it (there are about 3 books in front of it) but thanks for always sharing. miss you!
Jennifer,
Hi, my name is Callie Cunningham and I'm a freshman at A&M. I stumbled across your blog/Run for Compassion last night and was so excited, because God has really given me a heart for Ethiopia! Unfortunately, I will be on a mission weekend with an organization I'm in on April 10th, so I convinced my brother to run in my place. I registered him on the website, but just realized I made the Compassion donation in my name, so they don't exactly match up!( one is for Christian Cunningham and one is for Callie Cunningham). Is that okay? So sorry this is on your blog, I couldn't find your email. Also, if there is anything I can do to help with the run ahead of time please let me know. I love Compassion and their work across the world (especially in Addis!)
Thanks,
Callie Cunningham
ccunningham@tamu.edu
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