Delight

“Delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:4 (NIV 1984)

First let me tell you, this verse in the updated version of the NIV says, “Take delight in the LORD…” It threw me off at first because I’m so used to hearing “delight in the LORD.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized delight has to be taken. We have to choose delight. It is not a state of being. Delight means we have risen above our circumstances that try to pull us down. Delight means we have eyes to see the world as He does and see how He is operating all around us. To take delight means we have taken the attitude of gratitude and the mind of Christ.

Delight means a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment. We are supposed to enjoy God. Do you? Do you delight in His presence? Does it please you to be with Him? Do you wish that I had not asked you these questions because you don’t like the answers? We have to remember this is not about a religion and man-made list of do’s and don’ts. It’s about a relationship. The last thing God wants to be in our life is boring and unsatisfying. He wants to be the One who rings our bell, makes us laugh, and do crazy acts of love. He wants to be our delight.

If we delight in Him, then He will give us the desires of our hearts. After over a decade of praying the same prayer, I can honestly say He is still the number one desire of my heart. All I really want is Him. He makes my heart sing. He just does “it” for me. But I still have other desires. He has fulfilled many, but I’m still waiting on a few to be fulfilled. I’m believing that since I’m delighting that He will give them to me. Why? Because He said so. I know that as long as my desires align with His Word and His design for my life, He will give them to me. I trust Him. So let’s live each day delighting in Him. Carry this verse with you wherever you go this week – be it written on an index card, recorded on your smartphone, or imprinted in your heart. Study it, pulverize it, and memorize it!

Memorization Reminders:

Please join me in memorizing these verses and implanting God’s thoughts into our minds. I’m expecting for God to radically change our lives if we do this. Redeem your time to make room for memorizing God’s Word. Take this verse with you wherever you go. Meditate on it, and pulverize it.

We are blessed to live in a time where we can have the Bible at our fingertips even through the internet or an actual Bible in our hands. Yet, this blessing can become a curse if we do not treat the Bible with such honor to savor every word of it as those through the centuries who have longed to have His Word so much. They had to memorize every Scripture they had ever been given because their own copy of the Scripture was not possible.

Most of us probably don’t memorize Scripture because we think that we do not have the time. However, our minds have a lot of wasted space that can be given to God. We have to redeem the time. For women, we can use the time while putting on our make-up or blow drying our hair. For men, use the time while shaving. For both genders, we can use the time while we shower, stop at red lights, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and mow the lawn. Let’s face it: our minds are thinking about something during this time. Instead of being focused on our obsessions, worries, cares, to-do’s, and problems, give this time to God.

Take your verse(s) with you wherever you go. You can type your verse out and put it on beautiful sheets of your choice. You can write it out on index cards. Many people prefer index cards spiral bound to keep them together. For iphone users, I’m sure there is an app. You can write it on your iphone notepad or record your voice speaking it and replay it throughout the day.

Now that we have the verse and we have found the time, let’s focus on the method. We don’t just memorize it by saying it over and over; we meditate on it. We spend time thinking about what each word means and what it doesn’t mean.

Then one of my favorite techniques as taught by Waylon Moore is to pulverize the verse. Say the verse over and over each time focusing on a different word in the verse to emphasize. For example, say Psalm 37:4 (today’s verse) aloud and say with more umph the underlined and bolded word:

“Delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:4 (NIV 1984)

“Delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:4 (NIV 1984)

“Delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:4 (NIV 1984)

“Delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:4 (NIV 1984)

Repeat this process until each word in the verse has been emphasized.

After meditating and pulverizing the verse continuously for a week, the seed planted in our hearts will begin to germinate. You and I will no longer be merely short-term memorizing, but the Word will dwell within us. When God’s Word dwells within us, something miraculous happens. Our minds are renewed and transformed into the mind of Christ. We worry and fret less. We are armed for the attacks of the enemy. Our lips will be full of praise for our God. My friend, I’m ready for that kind of transformation!