Have you ever been reading God’s Word when a passage or verse just jumped out at you? That’s what happened to me with Psalm 37:4. I came across it while reading through the Psalms in my early 20’s. My quiet times were spotty at best, and a woman at my church suggested the Psalms as a good way to get into the habit of daily Scripture reading.
“Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what drew me to this verse. As a young mom, I must admit I might have interpreted the verse like this: “So all I have to do is love God, and He will give me everything I want? I’ll take a bigger house, a better job for my husband, two more babies, and I would like to lose the baby weight without trying… And, oh, can I also have it together at all times?  Sounds like a pretty great deal to me! Can I get this verse painted on a plaque for my kitchen?!”  (See actual  kitchen sign below that my mom gave me for Christmas that year- ha!)

But over the years, the Lord  started to show me something. The more I began to truly delight in Him (not just going to church, being “good”, or saying the right things), the more those desires changed to what He wanted for me. The things I listed above are not inherently wrong, but I discovered that I was elevating some of them before Him. I found that they would never truly fulfill the desires of my heart. The God of the universe is not a means to an end.
When we delight in the LORD, getting to know Him more through His Word, and spending time with Him, our desires begin to change. They start to line up with His will for our lives, and ultimately, we desire Him! The more we delight in Him, the more we desire Him, which makes us delight in Him even more! Everything else in this world will leave us wanting more. These longings point us to the only One who can satisfy. And it He is oh so delightful.
“Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” Psalm 107:8-9