Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

Thoughs on today's verse:

Too often we waste desires on ourselves! Stop and think about that for a moment. In today's world, there is a dangerous movment that exists known to some as the prosperity gospel, or the health and weath gospel. It has even gone under the moniker of "name it and claim it." Call it what you will, it is damaging. Among verses that are claimed in support of the idea that God wants us to be rich, etc., is this one. However, when the Psalmist instructs us to delight ourselves in the Lord with the result that the desires of our heart being granted, does he really mean that if we want a million dollars, or a new house, etc., that the Lord will give those to us? So many people have fallen prey to this deceptive teaching - it has literally ruined many lives!

Matthew 6:33 can help shed some light on the matter: "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." We know the verse, and perhaps have quoted it to others, but we do well to remind ourselves that the "these things" in view are the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing - not the things dedicated to oppulence. In fact, most of us have no personal experience with this kind of need, for how many of us have truly not known from where our next meal would come? How many of us have truly run out of clothing (and I'm not talking about the need to do laundry?). It is this true need in life that God addresses in Matthew 6:33 and he says, don't fret about it, even though it is a legitimate need, I know that you need it, but I want you to focus on your relationship with Me, and I will take care of you.

There we realize that God's taking care of the person is in their basic life sustenance. Remember, the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head! One commentator on this verse pondered that "whereas the wicked live for themselves and by themselves, the righteous trust in God and receive from God their legitimate desires" (Craige, WBC Psalms 1-50, p. 298). Our desires should incline toward God and the things of God - to know Him better, to abstain from sin, to live a life pleasing to Him. Remember Paul's desire in Phil. 3:10-11 - "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

So, rather than thinking about what you would ask from the mythical Genie, focus on delighting yourself in the Lord!

Psalm 27:14 - "Wait on the LORD: Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wat, I say, on the LORD!"

Thoughts on today's verse:

The idea of waiting might conjure up the image of sitting in a chair with only the sound of a ticking clock to keep one company. God is not late to an appointment, nor are we to be idle in our lives. The idea of waiting here is the idea of trust, be confident, have no fear. These words of encouragement have taken different forms throughout history, whether from Moses to Joshua (Deut 31:7), God to Joshua (Josh 1:6, 7, 9, 18), Joshua to the people of Israel (Josh. 10:25), Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:13), or as the case here, with the Psalmist to the people of Israel.

The idea is the same - we are to live a life of faith! We trust the Lord, we can trust the Lord, and this truth ought to strengthen our faith, and bolster our confidence! Remember: we live by faith, not by sight! As one author said: "faith is the power which enables the faithful to endure the tension between his present afflictions and his future deliverance from those afflictions" (Weiser, p. 254)

Psalm 25:14-15 - "The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.
15 My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
For He shall pluck my feet out of the net."

Thoughts on today's verses:

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:3 that "even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing." This verse seems to capture some of the essence of of what the Psalmist was driving at. Jesus said elsewhere to let the children come to him and not to hinder them. This gives us insight into the simplicity of the Gospel on the one hand, so simple that even a child can believe, but on the other hand, so complex that a person can spend their entire life exploring it and never fully understand all that is there to be grasped!

This just goes to show that spirutual truth really is spiritually discerned! Note Paul's words to the Corinthians in his first letter: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14).

We anchor to God by faith, and we fear Him, understanding that He is God and we are the work of His hands. When we acknowledge this by faith and the other truths that accompany the acceptance of God's revelation - namely the Gospel of Jesus Christ - then we have eternal life, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us, testifying to the truth of the Word and giving insight!