Psalm 37:5-7

Psalm 37:3-5

B.

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.  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 act.”

The essence of a man’s existence is his desires.  If a man were a river, then his desire would be the water itself.  But, just like a river is not defined only by the presence of water, a man is not defined only by the presence of desire.  A river is bound by its landscape to flow a certain direction, and it is always flowing into something greater than itself.  Sin is like damming the river of our desires, and what was meant to flow freely through creation, refreshing and beautiful, becomes a flood of destruction drowning the world with the force of our desires upon it.  David, who was not a stranger to the enticement of desire, addresses this fundamental human condition with a simple exhortation that centers itself around three words: trust, delight, commit.

            Trust is the singular condition of our faith that makes it what it is.  It is what differentiates between a Jesus Christ that rests upon our lips and a Jesus Christ who lives in our heart.  There are two words in the Hebrew language that are translated ‘trust’ which mean ‘refuge’.  The main difference between these two words is the presence of intention.  Where one of these words indicates an instinctual reaction to default to a certain place for protection, the other indicates a conscious and weighted decision to choose one place over another.  Both of these words are used to describe the trust we are to have in God, but David uses the latter in this case specifically because he is addressing the issue of managing our desires.  A desire is what we consciously choose to pursue apart from an alternative.  To trust in the Lord—to take refuge in Him—is to place the hope for the fulfillment of our desires in His control by forsaking what we would desire and choosing to employ God’s desires for us.  This is called ‘trust’ because God’s will contradicts man’s desires, and, where we can see the end of our fleshly desires here on earth, we cannot see the end of God’s desire for us.  We have no assurance of our fulfillment but the presence of God’s word.  To trust God is to follow Christ.  To follow Christ is to obey Him.  If there is no trust, then there is no faith.  This is why David associates trust with befriending faithfulness.  Trust is the primary function of faith, and as we are faithful to walk in the truth, He will cause us to dwell in the land.

            I was surprised to find that the word ‘delight’ was translated from a word that meant ‘soft and pliable’, but also, ‘effeminate’ or ‘luxurious’.  As I began to consider what this implies, I find that it makes perfect sense.  Effeminacy denotes a lack of vigorous qualities, or weakness.  It is the quality of vulnerability, the propensity to be dominated, or to be conformed to the will of another.  This confounds the very heart of man’s desires.  Men wish to establish themselves, and every desire a man has is an expression of this fundamental desire to impose his own will upon the world.  David speaks of the exact opposite being what we should desire.  To experience delight is to have one’s desires fully and specifically met.  To delight in the Lord is make Him the full end of our desires, and as His will dominates our will, as we make ourselves ‘soft and pliable’ in His hand, He conforms us to the specific nature of His delight, and we become something that is luxurious.  Our very existence becomes of extreme high quality, because God’s will accommodates our desires by nature of Him being the source of them.

            Finally, David exhorts us to commit.  This is where the river analogy becomes relevant again.  The word ‘commit’ is translated from a Hebrew word that means ‘to roll’.  ‘To roll’ implies a continuous motion in a consistent direction.  There is no break in forward motion, and by virtue of that motion, no deviation from the predetermined course—like a river that flows from the mountains to the sea.  To commit is to determine a course of action, not only for the present moment, but also for every unforeseen future moment, and having set the boundaries for that course, moving forward in this direction despite all circumstance and obstacle; for rich or for poor; in sickness or in health.  It is not only the decision to obey Jesus Christ, but it is the promise never to seek fulfillment anywhere or in anyone else.  It is the decision to say to Jesus Christ, “The goodness I will have is only what you will give.  Therefore, if you do not give it, then I will not have it.  For I am yours forever more.”  This is why we are called the ‘bride of Christ’.  We are His possession, and when we surrender to Him thus, He makes us His delight.  He will not spare his goodness, however.  For when He tells us to trust in Him, He promises us that He will act.