Delight In The Lord
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
This verse, along with other verses in Psalm 37 (for example verses 25-26 ‘I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed’.), is often quoted by those Christians who believe in what is popularly called the ‘Prosperity Gospel’. As long as you are in a right relationship with God, they say, whatever your heart desires will be yours – houses, cars, money, etc. – name it and claim it, God promises to give you anything you want. This is a classic case of dishonest interpretation of Scripture.
Reading Psalm 37 carefully actually shows that the writer would be totally against the way his/her writing has been used in this way. The writer actually begins the Psalm by saying, ‘Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity’. Contrary to the view that the righteous should be rich the writer states, ‘A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked’. (Verse16) explicitly demonstrating that the righteous will sometimes have little in terms of material possessions.
This verse, along with other verses in Psalm 37 (for example verses 25-26 ‘I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed’.), is often quoted by those Christians who believe in what is popularly called the ‘Prosperity Gospel’. As long as you are in a right relationship with God, they say, whatever your heart desires will be yours – houses, cars, money, etc. – name it and claim it, God promises to give you anything you want. This is a classic case of dishonest interpretation of Scripture.
Reading Psalm 37 carefully actually shows that the writer would be totally against the way his/her writing has been used in this way. The writer actually begins the Psalm by saying, ‘Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity’. Contrary to the view that the righteous should be rich the writer states, ‘A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked’. (Verse16) explicitly demonstrating that the righteous will sometimes have little in terms of material possessions.
If ‘desires of your heart’ in Psalm 37:4 meant material possessions, it would contradict the first part of the verse which says ‘delight yourself in the Lord’. In other words, if we are delighting ourselves in the Lord then the desires of our hearts will not be the accumulation of material things.
The verse from 2 Corinthians 9:8 gives the purpose for which we are blessed in abundance, it is ‘… so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work’. We do not need a lot of money to participate in good works. We can share what we have, stand up for the rights of others, listen to someone who is grieving, visit those in prisons and hospitals, all without having a lot of money. What we need, which should therefore be the desire of our hearts, is patience, faith, hope, kindness, courage, and, above all, love. If we delight ourselves in the Lord he promises to give us these.
Prayer from Daily Watchwords: Dear God, thank you for blessing me in abundance. You have provided me with everything I need. I have more than enough. Encourage me to share so that I can be a blessing to others. Amen.
Rev. Gary Gardiner
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