Delighting in the Lord

If you're seeking a memory verse for the week, try this one from Psalm 37:4:

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

I memorized this verse when we were trying to get pregnant with our first child. It did not take us long, relatively speaking, but it wasn't immediate either. As many of you know, the waiting game can become consuming. And so I became consumed; just waiting and praying for my heart's desire to be fulfilled.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with desiring good things and praying that the Lord will grant you those desires. It's easy to lose perspective though and focus so much on getting the gift that we forget the nature and promises of the One who gives. We forget that "every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17). And that God declares, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:9). That "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all good things" (Rom. 8:32), things He knows we truly need.

In this instance, I was craving the benefits stated in the second part of Psalm 37:4 without adhering to the first part. Once I realized this I still had to wait a little while, but the waiting period became marked less by anxiety, impatience and irritation that things weren't working out as I would have planned for them to, and more by peace and trust in the Lord's goodness and perfect plan for our family.

We should delight in the Lord at all times and in all circumstances, rooting ourselves in Christ to such an extent that we ultimately desire only what He, in His holy wisdom, deems beneficial to give.