Psalm 37:4-6a

(4 min)

4 Take delight in the Lord,     and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;     trust in him and he will do this: 6a He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn

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In this week’s passage, the Psalmist reflects and shares wisdom in his old age (Psalm 37:25).

Book Context 🤓

• The Psalms are a collection of Ancient Hebrew poems, songs & prayers across many periods of Israel’s history.
• Each of the 150 Psalms generally fits into one of these 6 categories:
  • Lament, Praise Hymns, Thanksgiving, Kingship & Covenant Psalms, Songs of Trust, and Wisdom Psalms.

Literary Context + Genre 🤓

• Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm attributed to David & reads similarly to Proverbs.
• Psalm 37 is an acrostic, meaning each stanza starts with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
  • Acrostics are meant to 1) aid memorization and 2) communicate completeness

Psalm 37 ✍️

Overall, David is urging the audience not to envy the prosperity of people living without God, but instead to trust in and obey God.

He’s saying that in the end, the people who reject God will be separated from his presence (Psalm 37:10, Psalm 37:28), but the godly will inherit eternal life with God.

This is a picture of what David is communicating in this Psalm.

He’s helping us see with eternal eyes, and tells us to find our ultimate delight in the Lord.

Delight yourself in the Lord 🙂

Let’s look at verses 4 and 5 specifically:

Delight yourself in the Lord: 

• Notice the object of delight is God Himself, not just his blessings or promises.

and he will give you the desires of your heart: 

• This isn’t talking about the selfish desires of our hearts, but the desires of our transformed hearts. 
• This is talking about our deepest longings, namely, our desire for God Himself. 

Desire the Lord above all else, and He will give you Himself.

Commit your way to the Lord: 

• The Hebrew word for commit literally means ‘to roll’ as in rolling a burden off of yourself.
• This is saying to give over or to trust God to carry the weight of your life.

Trust in him, and he will act (.."and he will do this: in the NIV)

• This builds on the idea of committing your way to God. 
• Trust the One who created you: He is actively involved in your life, even if you can’t see it right now.
• The NIV connects the act of trust to Psalm 37:6, showing that on the last day, God will make your righteousness as obvious as the bright sun.

How can you delight yourself in the Lord this week? 🤔

Here are a few ideas. Pick one or two to hone in on this week:

• Silence: Spend 3 minutes outside in creation, sitting in silence with Him
• Read His Word: Slowly read through Psalm 37
• Listen to worship music: Rather than just having it on in the background, listen closely to the lyrics and pray them back to God.
• Pray a simple prayer: Lord, I need your help. Teach me how to simply enjoy your presence.

Let’s delight in His presence this week,

Kieran & Isaac 🙏

P.s. Enjoying God's presence can be hard because it involves slowing down enough to become aware of His presence.

Here are 2 recommended resources to help you delight in the Lord:

1. The Pause App: This is a free app by John Eldredge’s organization with guided audio prompts to help you connect with the presence of God. Highly recommend the 30-day resilience challenge.

2. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (modern English): This is a very short book of writings by a 17th century monk about simple ways to experience God’s presence during everyday life.