Granted!

Granted!

Psalm 37:4 AMPC

[4] Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

David is the man credited with the words of the verse above. We do not know the full context behind the words above, but we know a few things about the man David himself. He was referred to by God as a man after His own heart. This must have been quite a high bar, because David did not ask for this major reference, or ask God to favour him in a special way, but God, who is Omniscient and knows what would happen, already referred to this man in this way. The world definitely did not see or consider David as perfect in any way, as we know a few of the things he did: a man who took another man's wife, slept with her, and then conspired with his army chief to murder the husband. Interestingly, the husband was listed as one of David's mighty men; men who would give their lives for the king, yet it was the same king who did not consider the value of this man's life. It was not pretty by man's standards, but as we know now, God does not look on the outside. He considers the heart. 

It was clear that David was a man who took great delight in God. He was not a man who paid only lip-service to devotion to God; he made sure that his private life of devotion also matched his public life of service and dedication to God. He was not a man who showed off in public, but had no personal encounter with God. It is important to note that it is not when problems come that a man's heart is revealed; it is usually in the times of comfort and convenience, when no one is looking. As David stayed in the desert and open places with his father's sheep; as he had quiet moments with no distractions, he was building up capacity and endurance for the days of public exploits. The days of quiet resistance to the lion and the bear were preparing him for the days of public and open confrontation with Goliath and Israel's enemies. How do I prepare the right way for the days of trouble that will definitely come my way, as long as I am clothed in this mortal body? 

The answer is in the verse above, which counsels me to 'delight' myself in the Lord. How do I do this? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Delight as 'a high degree of gratification, joy, or extreme pleasure, often accompanied by surprise'. This tells me that it is in the Lord that I can truly have the full expression of joy possible. The world will lay emphasis on possession, position, power or privilege; God lays emphasis on a personal encounter with Him. When you have Him, you have everything that really matters. Physical things do not always last; in fact, they were built to be temporary so that you will never be satisfied with them. The right counsel is to make sure that I have God. With Him, all other things find purpose and value. Without Him, it is easy to be distracted by what the world claims is important. With Him in charge of my heart, my desires and petitions will always line up with His will. I must make sure that He is in full control. Is He? God's time of favour is here.