Delight In The Lord

Delight in the Lord

Psalm 37:1-37:8

Last week we looked at being strong in the Lord and standing firm in the Lord.

This morning we will look at delighting ourselves in the Lord.

You remember as a kid the excitement of receiving presents?

Truth is all of us enjoy presents. As a kid you didn’t do anything to earn them, they were given to you to show you how much you are appreciated and loved.

Presents uplift us, fill us with happiness and assure us we are important to others.

I think God enjoys getting gifts from us. (He would be hard to buy for)

I believe He gets joy when we give Him our time. Talents, treasures, and we give him ourselves and desire to have and keep an intimate relationship with Him.

He gets joy when we tangible show Him that we love Him and He delights to give us gifts as His children.

Psalms 37:1-37:8

Quick look at this passage

Do not fret- or do not worry about wicked people succeeding.

Trust in the Lord, and enjoy safety.

Commit your ways to the Lord.

Be still and wait on God for those things we do not understand.

Right in the middle of these verses (4) Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart (repeat)

2 questions come to mind

(1) What does it mean to delight in the Lord?

(2) What does it take for God to give you the desires of your heart?

If you would read all of this long Psalm- you would see that the theme is the contrast between the righteousness of God and the wicked. Who will inherit the land and who will enjoy the blessings of God?

I want you to see something here that is important. you may want to write this down.

When the lord is delighted with us, He will help us and keep us.

(23) “ If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm, though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

“The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord, He delights in every detail of our lives.”

Giving is what God does and giving is what God expects out of us.

There is a covenant between God and us.

God delights to give to His children, and His children should delight to give back to God.

A covenant is a binding agreement between God and God’s people.

Giving is an act of Christian Community.

We cannot say we love God without loving others and modeling Christ. Christ loved and Christ gave to others.

Let’s go back to one of the first questions I asked you this morning.

I. What does it mean to delight yourself in the Lord

To be delighted is to be joyful- joyful in the Lord and finding joy in pleasing and being in God’s presence.

We see in (v1) that;

If we fret about what others have compared to us, we will be worrying instead of joyful.

If we are always fretting about the unrighteous getting more than what we have- we will be worrying instead of joyful.

If we think life is fair, and everytime wrong is done to us, we blow a casket- we will be worrying instead of being joyful.

The key to be delighted in the Lord is to be trusting in the Lord.

(3) “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the Lord and enjoy safe pasture.”

Trusting is the doorway to understanding- Psalm 24

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it, for he founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.”

God provides for His people-

Your body, your skills, your talents, the job you have or praying for- belong to the Lord.

That full checkbook or that empty checkbook belong to the Lord.

Trusting is the key

How are you doing in trusting God?

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest- how are you doing?

Why do we have such a hard time trusting God?

Because it is contrary to our sinful nature. It is easier to worry and blame God than to trust God.

Trusting God in things we cannot see- when it doesn’t look good. When you don’t have all things figured out. Trusting God when it would be easier to worry.

We should trust God because we are recipients of God’s goodness.

We show Him that we love Him.

By our worship- Rev. 14:7

“ Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the spring of water.

By our Bodies- Roman 12:1-2

“ In view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship.”