Thursday, July 9, 2026

Psalm 37 is noted as a “Psalm of David.”  King David, formerly a shepherd and a musician for his predecessor King Saul, wrote many of the 150 Psalms we have in the Bible.  His words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, show us some good and practical ways to live for the Lord each day.  Take for example Psalm 37:2 which says, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Two key words we see are “trust” and “take.”  These words serve as a roadmap for how we can live each day.  First, we learn to trust in the Lord.  To trust in the Lord means to live not by sight but by faith.  We live not based on what we think about something or wish we could do.  Rather, we trust ourselves to God and what He has chosen for us.  To trust God means we entrust everything to Him—things we understand and do not understand, the losses and the gains of life.  To trust God means we also have the joy of casting all of our cares upon Him.  It can be easy to say we trust God but often difficult to live that way and to demonstrate it. 
            One way to increase your trust in God is to commit something to Him today and let go of it.  Just say, “Lord, I give this to you.  I trust you.”  You may not immediately see His response but He will keep the trust you place in Him.  Remember the words of the Bible about trusting God, “because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).  God is able to keep every trust we place in Him.  Take a moment each day to commit something to Him—a battle, a victory, a defeat, a worry or a confusing situation where you lack answers.  We grow in our trust of God by trusting things to Him and then letting go.  Just as an athlete gets better by practicing his or her sport, we trust God better by starting to trust Him. Insisting on having our way is, frankly, a sin.  It is an insistence and even a demand that we know better.  But our ways and thoughts are NOT His ways and thoughts.
            Second, in Psalm 37, we learn to “take delight in the Lord.”  To take delight means we enjoy Him.  God is the fountain of all joy and peace.  The world will not give us joy and peace.  These gifts are the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  He produces these gifts within us. We will never find lasting peace and joy in external things or the things we do.  The world cannot give to us what it does not know.  Deep-seated delight in the Lord comes from a dynamic growing relationship with Him fueled by reading His Word, prayer, worship with other believers and participating in a small group of believers like a Sunday School class or a discipleship group where everyone is seeking the Lord together.  Isolation can often rob us of the ability to take our delight in and from the Lord.  We begin to see and think only of ourselves.  That is unhealthy.
            Psalm 37:2 promises that when we take delight in the Lord that He will give us the desires of our heart.  Do not read that to mean God will give you anything you want or allow you to do anything you wish.  Such a conclusion is a misreading and a misinterpretation of Scripture.  God does not serve us.  He does not grant a few wishes here and there.  He does not endorse every whim or wish we may entertain.  The idea is our desires are transformed and changed.  We begin to desire what God desires.  We turn from selfishness and disobedience and begin to desire what God wishes to bring into our lives.  We repent from the old ways of living and embrace the new that God has for us.  We have a godly sorrow over our sinfulness, stubbornness and selfishness and begin to delight in what God ordains and brings into our lives. 
            Trusting God and taking delight in Him are like having a new windshield in life.  We can clearly see where we are and where we are going.  Just like an old windshield can have dents, cracks, dirt and wear and tear, we can gather a lot of things that keep us from seeing as clearly and as well as we should.  Learning to trust God and taking delight in Him change our outlook and vision.  We learn not to insist upon our way but to enjoy and embrace the greater way that He has for us.  Grow your delight in the Lord today.  Take a step toward reading His Word more faithfully, praying more earnestly, gathering with brothers and sisters who can help you grow in Christ and hold you accountable for what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  Life is not about you or me.  It is not about getting attention, validation or approval from others by any means we can imagine.  Today, we can easily make our life about gathering online clicks and likes.  If we live for these things, we may discover we are not trusting God and taking delight in Him.  Have a great Thursday!