Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
At first glance, the self-absorption of those words raises all kinds of questions.
What if my heart’s desire is to make a ton of money and keep it all for myself?
What if my heart’s desire is to get revenge on those folks who have wronged me?
What if my heart’s desire has to do with a sexual attraction towards someone who is not my spouse?
What if my heart’s desire is to elevate my fame at the expense of God’s?
Those legitimate questions demonstrate — once again — the importance of reading Scripture in context.
Because Psalm 37:5 gives greater shape to the thoughts of 37:4:
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
The commit your way there is the critical thought: by committing your way to God’s way, you are moving far beyond the moment-by-moment trust that many of us think qualifies as faith.
Instead, committing your way is a choice early on in the journey — before the crisis hits or the troubles come — to live your life according to the counter-intuitive commands of Scripture.
When you commit your way, you return the first 10% of your income to God.
When you commit your way, you turn the other cheek.
When you commit your way, you surrender your impulses instead of surrendering to them.
When you commit your way, you place the cross in the middle of your life and in doing so recognize that God’s reputation is far more important than your vindication.
And when you have that kind of consistent, persistent faith, you’ll discover the most amazing thing.
That the desires of your heart now line up with the desires of His heart.