Day 113 - Delight Yourself in the Lord

Daily Reading:  Psalm 37-39

Delight yourself in the Lord

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

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.

Psalm 37:4-5

Footnote:

David calls us to take delight in the Lord and to commit everything we have and do (our "way") to him.  But how do we do this?  To delight in someone means to experience great pleasure and joy in his or her presence.  This happens only when we know that person well.  Thus, to delight in the Lord, we must know him better.  Knowledge of God's great love for us will indeed give us delight.

To commit ourselves to the Lord means entrusting everything -- our lives, families, jobs, possessions -- to his control and guidance.  To commit ourselves to the Lord means to trust in him, believing that he can care for us better than we can ourselves.  We should be willing to wait patiently for him to work out what is best for us.

Show me, O Lord, my life's end

and the number of my days;

let me know how fleeting is my life.

Psalm 39:4

Footnote:

Life is short no matter how long we live.  If there is something important we want to do, we must not put it off for a better day.  Ask yourself, "If I had only six months to live, what would I do?" Tell someone that you love him or her?  Deal with an undisciplined area in your life?  Tell someone about Jesus?  Because life is short, don't neglect what is truly important.

You have made my days a mere handbreadth;

the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Each man's life is but a breath.

Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro

He bustles about, but only in vain;

he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

Psalm 39:5-6

Footnote:

The brevity of life is a theme throughout the books of Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Jesus also spoke about it (Luke 12:20).  It is ironic that people spend so much time securing their lives on earth and spend little or no thought about where they will spend eternity.  David realized that amassing riches and busily accomplishing worldly tasks would make no difference in eternity.  Few people understand that their only hope is in the Lord.  (For other verses on the brevity of life, see Ecclesiastes 2:18 and James 4:14).

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All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV