ETERNAL TREASURE - DESIRES OF THE WISE

 

"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."—Psalm 37:4

TWO QUESTIONS come to my mind when I read Psalm 37:4: (1) how do I delight myself in the LORD? And (2) what are the desires of my heart? I discovered that the LORD had already given us the answers to the questions centuries ago: 

        

       Answer to Question #1, Delight thyself in the LORD:

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thin own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13, 14).

Keeping the Sabbath holy is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11), but it is also the sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:13, 16) as circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 17:10-13). Therefore, the instruction for keeping the Sabbath and delighting in the commandment and delighting in the LORD are examples for delighting in all the commandments and delighting in the LORD. 

        Isaiah 58:13 helps us to understand the difference between obeying the commandment and delighting in it. We may obey the commandment out of fear of the consequence of disobeying and not honor the commandment or the LORD. We delight in the commandment and honor it when we understand its value for us as well as for others. That was true in the Old Testament as well as in the New.

The commandments are given to us by our heavenly Father who loves us and knows what the very best is for us. It is out of that understanding that we delight in the commandment and in the LORD—the Fear of the LORD. We honor the commandment, and we honor the LORD.

Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm, and wisdom psalms are similar in content to other Wisdom Literature: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. In the wisdom literature, all the things we may desire are not comparable to wisdom (Proverbs 8:11).

 Answer to Question #2, Desires of thine heart:

 “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand: and in her left-hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is everyone that retaineth her” (Proverbs 3:13-18).

The commandments of the LORD are wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:1-6; Matthew 7:24). Why is wisdom so valuable to the wise that nothing else is comparable to it? It is through wisdom that the desires of the heart of the wise are received: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deuteronomy 6:5, 6; Matthew 22:37), (2) and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39). Obeying these two commandments is the desires of the heart of the wise, and their desires are received when they delight in the LORD. Length of days, riches and honor, ways of pleasantness, paths of peace, tree of life, and happiness are promises (Proverbs 3:16-18); but they are not the desires of the heart of the wise. Why?

We can’t delight in the LORD if our desires are His promises. We delight in Him when our desires are to love Him with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. We are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the promises will be added to us (Matthew 6:33).

Excerpted from Faith Sings God's Song by Robert P. Holland