Last night was one of those great Pacific Northwest evenings – just the right temperature, no rain, and a little breeze. It was amazing! My wife and I took the opportunity to sit on the back deck in front of a fire and just talk. Which, unfortunately, doesn’t get to happen too often…
We talked about a lot of things. We chatted about family, the weather, recent movie releases, good books, the past, the present, and the future.
Specifically, one of our topics was Psalm 37:4. This is a small verse and probably one you have heard but can’t say where it is found. In fact, you have probably heard the second half more than you have heard the first half.
The NLT translates it this way, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”
Notice that this verse starts with an imperative statement. It is an action verb. The Psalmist is telling us to do something. We are to do…before we receive! We are to delight in the Lord before He gives us anything. Delight is defined – in the noun form as great pleasure – and in the verb form as pleasing someone greatly.
Therefore, when we are told to delight in the Lord, this means we are to, quite literally, take great pleasure in pleasing Him! This means we are to do everything for Him, to always celebrate being in His presence, asking for His blessings, eating Him up, and breathing Him deeply!
We have to do all of this before we are given the desires of our hearts. But check this out… If we are doing all of this, our desires will be His desires, and if our desires are His desires then of course He will give them to us!
It’s an alignment issue. So the question becomes, “Are we aligned with Him?”
How’s your alignment today?
Until next time….
Pastor Barry
Pastor Barry's Blog 