Are You Delighting?

Are You Delighting?

by David Brenneman 

"Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers.  For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb.  Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.   Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.  Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.  For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.  Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.  But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.  The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth.  The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming." Psalms 37:1-13.

Do you delight yourself in the Lord?

When you do what you do, think what you think, are you continuing to delight in the Lord? 

It's an interesting thought. 

To delight yourself in the Lord and Savior and He will give you the desires of your heart.  

Weelll what does that look like?  

Next, we read we are to commit your way to the Lord.  

This means to be intentional on our part to Jesus.  To seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. 

To rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.  

We are all too often impatient.  

We live in a microwave society that still thinks 3 minutes for food in one is too long. 

Do you take time to rest with Jesus?

Would you even recognize if evil were afoot around you?

Would you recognize idolatry? 

Would you recognize covetousness?

Would you recognize the things residing in your heart that don't belong there enough to ask Jesus to remove them?

The desires of your heart should be what Jesus desires for you. 

We are not under the Law as written in the Old Testament.  However, we are to walk in the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 

We aren't to place anything higher in our hearts than what His desires are for us. 

We who are in Christ are to learn to love who He loves and be who He wants us to be.  

Are you desiring the right things?

Do you waste time, energy and effort pursuing things that will never be what He desires for you?

Are you being stubborn?

Are you being persistent in all the wrong things and ways?

No, not in everything is it "it is what it is".  Complacency has no place in the hearts of Believers.  

It's incredibly important to you and I to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness...because it's these desires that He will honor and cause to flourish in our lives. 

Don't expect those who aren't saved to get it, to understand it.  They won't, God's Word says they won't. 

Like Jesus was saying to Peter...this is about you and Me.  YOU follow Me. 

YOU trust in me with all your heart And in all your ways acknowledge Me and I will make your paths straight. 

YOU love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit. 

YOU love your neighbor as yourself. 

YOU. 

Jesus: You let go of whatever is encumbering you...let go of foolish desires and want what I want for you. 

We choose our tribulations sometimes.  We really do.  We desire things that are not in God's will for us and then get upset when it falls apart.

We are often our own worst enemy. 

Paul taught to put off the old self with its practices.  

We come to Christ we are SUPPOSED to question why we are doing what we do and why we're doing it.  We aren't given a free pass to continue in sin simply because we're forgiven. 

A desire of Jesus for you would be to not swear.  Do you?  Why?  Just because isn't an answer.  It's a bad habit that you can't break?  Wrong answer.  You can, in Christ, you are choosing not to.

A desire of Jesus Christ for you is to spend time with Him.  Do you?  Don't have enough time?  Why?  What's more important than time with Jesus?  Oh you might have to give up something?  Bummer!  Get over it.  

A desire of Jesus Christ for you is to have you be a light in this present  darkness.  Are you more interested in hiding it?  Why?  Why would you?

Jesus said that He is the vine we are the branches.  Any branch that doesn't bear fruit He prunes.  

Ouch.

Many times in the Bible we read that we are to consider our ways. 

Do you? Do you look for Jesus to show up in your life?

Do you talk to Him first about what's troubling you?

Are you at all trying to delight yourself in the Lord?

Are you walking close enough with Jesus to recognize the foulness of sin?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6.

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.