choosing to delight

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. –Psalm 37:4

There are two parts to this verse. There are also two different actions performed by two different people.

The first action is on the part of the believer; delight yourself in the Lord… what a beautiful verb! Delight; enjoy, being enchanted by, find satisfaction, be filled with joy, glee and gladness. That is our job. That is my job. My one purpose in life is to find satisfaction in God. To know Him better, to draw closer to Him, to fall in love with Him.

Over the last several weeks, I’ve been asked the question, “so what is next?” or “where are you going next?” “are you going back to Kenya?” and so on. I hesitate in front of people feeling like I’m suppose to know the answer. But God’s Word has given me the answers:

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. –Proverbs 16:9

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord… -Jeremiah 29:11

…Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. –Psalms 143.8

Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. –Proverbs 23:4

What’s next? I’m working on knowing Christ. Every step I take, my job is to see how God is revealing Himself in it. It takes such a burden off myself to try to figure it out. And I’m sure everyone would like to know “the where”… but rest assured, I desire it even more! But I’m choosing to delight right now.

Honesty time. I'm having a hard time delighting here. I delighted in God while in Kenya every day. My journal entries day after day always started with, "I didn't know today could get better than yesterday". I lived moment by moment in tune with what God wanted me to do, what He wanted me to say, where He wanted me to go. I was doing what He had created me to do and I couldn't have felt more fulfilled. I know that where I am right now is also where God wants me. But because I'm not actively "doing" all the time like I was there, I often feel the outside pressure that I'm not doing all that I'm suppose to be doing. Every time I question God (usually because doubt has been implanted) He surprises me with something to confirm that I'm doing what He wants me to do; delight in Him right now. 

And as I delight… the Lord promises that He will give [me] the desires of [my] heart. In the original Hebrew text, the verb “give” can also be translated, “to put”, “set”, “put upon”, “appoint”, “assign”, “designate”.

Get this...

He will [put] the desires…

He will [set] the desires…

He will [appoint} the desires…

He will [assign] the desires…

God does this action. I am not meant to take on this task. *relief* As I do my job (delighting in Him), He does His job (assigning me desires that I can live out). There is no timeline that God promises that He will reveal and when He will assign. But as I delight in Him, I’m fully waiting with expectation to see Him implant within me the desires that He has for me.

When God reveals the desire for the “where” I will surely share it with my awesome team that continues to support, love, and walk this journey with me. But let us let God work in His timing willingly. He is already preparing the hearts of those I will get to share His love with and the team I will work with. He is working and I hope you are just as excited as I am to see His plan unfold.

Let us delight. Let us let God give us desires in our hearts that we may go and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that He has commanded us. He is with us, even to the ends of the age. Amen.

(Psalm 37:4 & Matthew 29:19-20)