Reflections on Psalm 37:4

I have heard a lot about this verse lately and I just want to share my reflection on this verse. I am not a Bible scholar or teacher in any way, but I would like to share my interpretation of this verse. This is my own understanding of this verse, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Lots of people get confused by this verse, or even sometimes angry at God about this verse. When a person reads this for the first time, they tend to see the broad picture and not understand the hidden point of the verse. I’m speaking from experience by the way! This verse confused me at first too! The first time I read this verse, I read this: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Wait a minute, you might be thinking. ‘Isn’t that what it says?!’ Well, technically yes, but here is what I took away from the verse while reading it that way. ‘If I serve God, love God, and obey Him and am happy while doing it, He will give me everything I want.’ That’s not quite right…

Let me explain. While we should be joyful and willing to serve God and completely live for Him this verse doesn’t necessarily mean that God will just give us whatever we want. Let’s break it into two separate sections. First, take delight in the Lord. What does this mean? The definition of the word delight means ‘to have great pleasure in’. So take delight in the Lord means we should find all of our fulfillment or pleasure in Christ. The second part of this verse says ‘and He will give you the desires of your heart.’ This is where most of the controversy and confusion comes around. When it says God will give you the desires of your heart I believe this means that He will change your hearts desires to desire what God wants for you.

I would sum up this verse in a sentence such as: Find all your fulfillment in the Lord and He will change your heart to desire His perfect and pleasing will.

I pray this inspired one of y’all today!

❤ Mandie

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