We all have desires in our heart. Some of us are still waiting on those desires to come to fruition. When I was in a long season of waiting, specifically to be married, the Lord provided a few verses that were an anchor for my spirit. He began with the foundation verse for that season, which opens up a wonderful promise:
Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 NKJ)
Focus on this phrase: Delight yourself in the Lord.
We can easily make the desires of our heart an idol when our focus is on what we want, instead of pleasing God. It brings a weariness to our spirit. In delighting ourselves in the Lord, it takes our focus off of what we are waiting for and places it back on the Lord. Waiting brings strength, not weariness, if we are waiting on the Lord (Isaiah 40:31).
The key is delighting ourselves in the Lord. Delight is a verb. It is an action of taking great pleasure in Him, to please Him or to be His pleasure. When a man’s heart is tender toward a woman, in wooing her he will want what he is, does and says to be pleasing to the woman; he is delighting himself in her. In the same way, we can be God’s pleasure.
The Bible talks about many ways to delight ourselves in the Lord. It’s not about a list to follow to make sure we are being righteous, but we delight in Him because we love Him. We will want to give our hearts fully unto Him and delight ourselves in Him.
How to Begin Delighting Yourself in the Lord
- Doing His will. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8 NKJ
- Meditating on scriptures. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1-2 NKJ
- Having an honest heart. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight. Proverbs 12:22 NKJ
- Obedience. So Samuel said: Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22 NKJ
- Prayer. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight. Proverbs 15:8 NKJ
- Being all about His Word. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. Your testimonies also are my delight And my counselors. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; For Your law is my delight. Psalm 119:16, 24, 35, 47, 77 NKJ
When we catch onto this concept, our heart cry becomes, “Yes, I want the desires of my heart, but I want You even more than those desires.” And through the process of delighting ourselves in the Lord, we see that He delights in us! We have His whole heart, and will always have His love.
Are you in a season of waiting? Delight yourself in the Lord. Look up these scriptures in your Bible and begin to familiarize yourself with them. Highlight them, write them in your journal, pray them, but mostly get them in your heart! And He will give you the desires of your heart!
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I write to motivate Christ followers to stay spiritually nourished and thriving. My core message is to grow spiritually by eating “daily bread,” and enjoy the fruit that comes from a life yielded to God. When not keeping my crew of four on the family routine, you will probably find me sneaking a bite (or more) of dark chocolate. Visit my website or follow my social media!
Thank you for this Kelly! Your article outlines one of the first lessons we Christians must learn in order to advance spiritually. I myself have gone through different levels of learning to delight myself in the Lord these past few years, whether I’m waiting on something or trying to understand what He’s doing.
This principle helped keep my heart grounded when I wanted to be married. I’m so glad you’ve been delighting yourself in Him, Erika!
Yes, this was good. Good to hear concrete things to do in the wait!
This is so very much what I needed this week! In ministry, we’re in a season of quiet waiting. Long story short, the wait is for residence visas and work permits to another country with no clue on when we will have those. I’ve been getting increasingly restless, thinking there certainly must be something more I can do. Your points here bring me back to what it is that I should be doing!