questions about psalm 37:4?

Question

I am not sure how to word this but I will do the best I can in talking to the Lord tonight I posed this question about Psalm 37:4 which says Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Yet in other passages of the Bible it say God will provide all your needs.

In reading the above Psalm does the desires of you heart mean your wants or your needs? If God says that he will give you the desires of your heart than why have some things I wanted have not come to pass and why was I denied certain things by God?

I am not trying to play the martyr I am just trying to make sense of some of the hurts and trials that have happened and not knowing why they did?

I am serving God and trying to do the right thing and grow closer to Him and I love being a christian. What does it truly mean to delight in the Lord?

Answer 1

Delight:

H6026
ענג
‛ânag
aw-nag'
A primitive root; to be soft or pliable, that is, (figuratively) effeminate or luxurious: - delicate (-ness), (have) delight (self), sport (diversion, recreation, pleasant past time) self.

Delight: A feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction, joy, delicious, please greatly, charm, to alure, entice, contentment, ecstacy, gratification, rapture, satisfaction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darlin - If you are SO engaged in the Lord as to be DELIGHTING in Him... the desires of your heart will be ONLY Him.

If your desires are in your human EYES - your WANTS will be things of THIS world... and true evidence that you are NOT currently completely delighting yourself in the Lord.

Your NEEDS are something that mean you cannot exist in this world without. Food, clothing, shelter, water... and these God will also provide if we seek Him wholly.

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

What is "seeking FIRST?"

John 14:23-24 Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey Me. (Remain in My Word.) Then my Father will love them, and We will come to them and live in them. But anyone who doesn't love Me, won't obey me. (Keep My Word.)
What they have heard Me say doesn't really come from Me, but from the Father who sent Me.

John 15:7-14 If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it.
My Father's glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become My disciples.
I love you just as the Father loves Me; remain in My love.
If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love.
I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you.
The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them. And you are My friends if you do what I command you.

Romans 10:17 So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Belief... faith... the ability to abide while delighting... the Greek word is:

G4102
πίστις
pistis
pis'-tis
From G3982; persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: - assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

Reliance on Christ... THERE is your starting point.

This reliance begins by remaining in His word - according to our God, Jesus Christ, Himself.

Father God said it too:

Joshua 1:8-9 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Remain heavily in God's word, dear one. Consider DELIGHTING in it. ASK God to bring you delight through it. Turn your eyes off of the world - and put them on Jesus and you will have John 14:27...

John 14:27 I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn't like the peace that this world can give. So don't be worried or afraid.

Peace.

Answer 2

This is one of my favorite verses of scripture- I had questions just like you did a few years ago about this same verse- and what God has shown me, I will pass on to you. Delighting yourself in the Lord means to love Him above all things, and even more than getting what you desire. When we really begin to look to God and delight in Him and Him alone we will then begin to only want what He desires- and He will become the greatest desire of our hearts. I have a chronic illness that causes pain 24/7- I have suffered with this since I was 12 and I am almost 50. I wondered why if I loved the Lord He was not given me my greatest desire - which is to heal me. After crying out to the Lord many times about this, He spoke gently to my heart and said- "your greatest desire should not be, to be healed, but to enjoy me, and delight in me, and then I will be your greatest desire". I am not saying I still do not pray for healing, but I can say that I have found something of far greater worth - a VERY intimate relationship with Jesus. Also whatever you prayed for , may at the time seem to be great- however God sees the whole picture, and He does not always give us exactly what we ask for , but if we delight in Him, He will give us what is best for us- and sometimes that is grace to endure the pain. If you have any more questions - feel free to email if you can.

Answer 3

When you find joy in and being with God (= delight in the LORD), God’s desires become your desires (= “GOD gives you the desires” which are found in your heart), and He also fulfills those desires (= “GIVES YOU THE DESIRES” (= fulfills the desires)). The desires include both your needs and wants. But when one rejoices in the LORD, the wants naturally line up with God’s wants for your life, which is the best for you and those around you. Ps. 37:4 is perfectly harmonious with other verses that say God provides all your needs. What we want to keep in mind and do practice, however, is to pray. We often do not have because we don’t ask (James 4:2). God’s blessings are for aggressive taking by prayer in faith (Mark 3:25, James 5:16), because the Enemy actively plays havoc in the lives of God’s children to hinder the blessings that are rightfully theirs. For your hurts and trials, I’m sure there is a reason for them, because nothing is meaningless for God. But only you are the final witness to those answers as you hear Him in your heart. I’d encourage you continue to seek those answers. God has been faithful to answer most of my questions so far, although some answers do take time for me to hear for whatever reason. Bless you for your love for the LORD.

Answer 4

I have found over the years that this Psalm means that God plants the desires in your heart that He wants you to have, not that He gives you everything you want. When the desire for something is put in our hearts from the Lord, we can ask in faith and know that we will receive it, because it is something He desires to give. As humans, we don't always know what's best for us. We may want a certain person for a mate, but that person may be totally wrong for us. Or we may think we need certain items, like a sports car, or an expensive laptop- but those are not necessarily things God thinks we should have because we wouldn't handle them right. If it's something we truly, truly desire, and are patient to wait for it, you can probably be certain that it is something God is intending to give you, because the desire you have is one He planted there.

As we spend time with the Lord, and get to know His heart, His thoughts toward us, and understand His word and what He wants to do in us, this is how we delight ourselves in the Lord. He will see the maturity and level of faith we have as we spend time with Him, and just like a father gives his kids certain things at the right time, God will do the same for us. An child may want a bike, but his dad won't give him one, until he thinks he's ready. But if that child obeys his dad, helps and pleases his father, and is a delight to his dad, you can be sure it won't be long before dear old dad gets him that bike. I have found the Lord to be just like that.

Answer 5

Every religion seeks to promote the highest in human welfare.

To delight in the Lord means to know clearly what the Lord recommends for your life, to know the method the Lord teaches of how to fulfill that and to offer gratitude and praise to the Lord when it works out as the Lord promised.

Therefore, in the past:

(1) Were you a Christian and did you have Christian knowledge and aspirations when the Lord denied you certain things?

(2) Where the things you desired the same as the Lord desired for you?

For example, often people who are not religious fall in love, following their natural, innate and innocent desires to love and be loved. However, they fall in love with a non-religious person, someone who does not have the values taught by the Lord. When something like this occurs, no matter how painful it may be, one will delight in the Lord by seeing clearly the Lord's way is safe and true.

Your hurts and trials are there to bring you closer to the Lord and to enable you to learn how to fulfil your true welfare for yourself.

Your hurts and trials will bring you closer to the wisdom of the Lord and allow you to share that for the benefit of others.

Answer 6

I don't think you can take any single verse in isolation, and claim it as a specific promise - although I also love this verse. I have thought that God's ability to give us the desire of our heart is limitless - that is, there is nothing God cannot do. I do believe though that God's plan is larger than our own understanding and our own time frame. If we wait on God, study His Word and seek first His Kingdom, then a couple of things will happen - 1. the desires of our heart will become more like the plans God has for us, and we'll have a better understanding of our role in His plan and 2. we will be more content while we wait for the things we have wanted.
The Apostle Paul wrote a lot of letters from places of persecution and struggle - not likely to have been places he wanted to be - but he was able to rejoice, knowing that in those situations, he was still being obedient to the Gospel, and was reinforcing God's eternal plan to reconcile mankind to Himself. Paul also wrote in Romans 8 (a stuinning chapter of that letter) that in all things, God works together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. I find that so reassuring, and it makes me want to truly seek God's purposes before my own ambitions. It also gives great hope to know that my mistakes and my deficiency won't get in the way of God's plans - He is so much bigger than I can ever imagine.

God bless!

Answer 7

I think it has to do with your desires and God's desires coming together. Sometimes I'm disappointed that God is not answering my prayer from yesterday, only to realize slowly He is answering a prayer from three months or even three years ago. I also think that God's plan for us is more amazing and more wonderful (and also harder) than anything we could plan for ourselves. I think the Apostles understood this. They seemed to have this amazing capacity to submit totally. I think it was a talent we could learn from.
All that to say, if you Delight in God, then the desire of your heart will be His Will. Which can sound a little disappointing if you feel like your desires are more prosaic and personal than His grand scheme.
But remember God desires you much more than you desire Him. He knows your needs, and how to fill them better than you do. But He also knows that going without something can teach us a lot about our priorities. I often find that when I give up on my petty desires is just about the time He starts to meet them...
God Bless...

Answer 8

Different parts of the Bible are addressed for different kinds of Christians. By this I mean different stage of Christians. A Christian's relationship with God has a lot to do with lessons the christian has learned. This verse refers to a mature Christian, who has doubts. The Bible needs to be taken with context at all times. This verse serves to encourage an old Christian. Almost as if God is speaking with an old friend. I am glad that you have decided to give your life to the Lord. One of the lessons that you will have to learn will have to do with what you want. Your wishes will be revamped to adapt to the form of the Lord. Keep praying, and reading the word. Every step you take in the Lord's plan you will be learning continually.

Live the Word.

Answer 9

Oh, I think it means that if you delight yourself in the Lord, you will know Him so well that you will believe that He knows what is best for you and will ask that He give you what He knows is best. I am middle aged.
He has denied me what I THOUGHT were the desires of my heart. Had He given those things to me, I would be miserable now.
At the time, though, I was sad and hurt.

Examples: relationships that did not work out...numerous ones

Answer 10

Dont worry, just because you are trying to be more knowledgeable in this subject doesn't mean that you are a hardcore christian. As for the question, God wont necessarily give you what you want, He gives you what is the best for you and sometimes even takes time. God knows what he is doing and will never steer you wrong. So be patient. Hope this helps and you can also pray, so God will give you more insight on this passage.

Answer 11

"...of the heart..." is metaphoric for important things to make you happy ( e.g. not desires of some other bodily part ). Thus, the distinction between "needs" and "wants" vanishes. Buddhists know that the path to happiness is wanting as few "things" as possible, except for enlightenment and personal peace.

Perhaps some of the things you wanted are not really good for you or, even, related to your essential nature. Emerson said that "God is not a cosmic bellhop" so don't expect to be given what you want. You should pray for the strength to work for what you want on your own.

If you "...love being a ..." then you are "delight(ing) in the Lord".