ON THE VANGUARD

PSALM 37
“Then you will delight yourself in Adonai, and he will give you your heart’s desire.”

I remember in college, sitting in the backseat of my roommate’s car while he and his girlfriend were in the front, and hearing them both go on and on about all they expected God to do for them. And then I heard, “Well I expect God to bring me a sports car because the Bible says He will give me my heart’s desire.” Something rose up in me with that comment and I could stay quiet no more. I questioned aloud the girlfriend’s understanding of this verse only to be hushed and down played as the crazy roommate who was taking too many theology classes. But as with the entire Bible, if we fail to take God’s word in context we only look like fools. My desire today in looking at Psalm 37 is to help us look in context at why David would write this verse that so many assume means they can have everything they desire.
To begin this look, let us start at the beginning of the chapter. In reading this I feel as though God is speaking these first few lines as if speaking directly to me, but using David’s mouth. “Don’t be upset by evildoers, or envious of those who do wrong.” Doesn’t this sound familiar? Does it not always seem like the ungodly are the ones getting blessed? Here from the beginning we are being told not to be envious of these type people. But he goes on. “For soon they will wither like grass and fade like the green in the fields.” These evildoers that we are warned against being envious of will find their judgment, is what is being said here. This seems to fit in line with Proverbs 13:22 where we are told that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous.
Still the passage goes forward in verse 3, saying, “Trust in Adonai, and do good; settle in the land, and feed on faithfulness.” Stop! No matter how blessed the people are that we are envious of, they will come to a point of judgment based on their evilness. Yet still, we are told to do what? To trust in the LORD and to do His will. We are told to settle in the land. The word ‘settle’ is SHAKAN, meaning to abide, establish, or dwell. We are not supposed to treat God as a passing fad or convenient rest stop, but rather fix our foundations in Him and plant ourselves. It is in the fact that we are dwelling that we are also fed. ‘Feed’ is translated as RA’AH, meaning to graze like sheep, but also to be companions or a special friend to the one feeding us. So then, in trusting in Adonai and doing His will, we plant ourselves for the long stay in a position where we become God’s special friend and receive His food. Wow, this is getting good.
Then finally we come to verse 4 which makes more sense. We can’t have 4 unless 1, 2, and 3 have gone before it. It is in being planted and fed by Him that we see His heart for us and begin to see His will for us. It is then that our will becomes the fact of doing His will. I think of it as the family business. I know a family of doctors. The grandfather was a doctor, the son was a doctor, and now the granddaughter is a doctor. They all enjoyed watching and learning the family business that they all made that same decision to step into that line of business. None of them were forced into it, but rather chose freely. And in this verse of God giving us our heart’s desire, it is because in being with Him we have seen Him at work. We have bonded with Him and seen how He has the power to change lives. We realize in being with Him that our petty earthly desires of a new car or riches mean nothing compared to lining our will up with His. That doesn’t mean that we will never have the fancy cars and such, because God still desires to bless His people. The fancy, though, no longer becomes the focus.
But there is one more piece that we must look at, which is verse 5. “Commit your way to Adonai; trust in him, and he will act.” In order to know His heart, we must be willing to give ours to Him. We must be willing to commit our lives to doing His will, trusting that the One who loves us beyond human comprehension will not abandon us or mistreat us. He will act to bring all the judgments needed, the blessings needed, and the corrections needed. He will do His part, but we must do ours. We must trust in Him and commit our ways to Him if we expect to have the desires of His heart.