Psalms 37:3-6 (3) Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. (4) Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (5) Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. (6) And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
To the seeker of ‘more’ of God, the waiting and wondering can be overwhelming. We know our desires, and our heart longs for the coming to fruition and completion of those desires. Psalms 27:14, in very pointed and directed language says “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Patiently waiting, simply waiting, or just waiting on the Lord is not an easy task. In today’s world, waiting for anything increases stress, and may cause us to want to hurry even more. When our desires remain unfulfilled, waiting becomes our hindrance to ‘more’. Why is our way seemingly so difficult when we are serving God?
The Psalmist gave very clear direction in the ‘way of more’. The scriptures we find, whether Old or New Testament, provide us with the answers we need to all of our daily struggles; not only with waiting, but how our God is going to move to fulfil our desires. Let’s look at the three answers given in Psalms 37:3-6.
First is trusting in the Lord. Sounds easy enough, after all, God made everything, owns everything, and is over everything. Even the devils tremble at the knowledge there is but one God, who is sovereign in all his attributes. It is good to trust God, not limit him in his works, allowing him to perform miracles and wonders in our sight, and also in the sight of heathen evildoers. Trust says “I am willing to let go of everything, even if it means I lose everything”. Trust says, “I know I will be alright, because God is my strength, and I am doing good in the sight of God by trusting him”. If we can trust in the truth, God promises he will feed us the strength we need in the ‘way of more’.
Secondly, the scripture instructs us to “delight thyself also in the Lord”. Delight in this context means we find great peace, contentment, and fulfillment in our
relationship with Jesus Christ. The desires we have held deep in our heart are very important to us. Our longsuffering desires consume our minds, keeping us in a state of struggle, perhaps even a state of spiritual stagnation. The steps of our way grind slower as we lose our joy and delight in the Lord. The Psalmist gives the ‘way’. We must have the peace of God which passes understanding, we mustbe content in what ever state we are in, and we must also maintain the vision of fulfillment of our desires. Our delight becomes our pleasure, knowing God is in control!
Finally, the ‘way of more’ as described in Psalms 37:5 is for us to commit our way to the Lord. When we really think about it, every step we take and every word spoken has a purpose. With purpose comes commitment. Commitment is sometimes a hard thing to understand. Truly, however, if we are unable to commit to one thing, we have in reality committed to something else. Our mis- directed purpose brings our lives to a point of commitment we may not have realized. This is why commitment to the ways of the Lord leads us to ‘more’ of God. When we totally understand for our desires to come to pass is through our commitment, we can see how our trust and delight in the Lord complete the fulfillment of our desires.
At this point, you may be thinking, “where is faith in all of this?” The ‘way’ is not a stationary point in time or space. It is a path beyond now. Our God knows the ending from the beginning. Every move we make in the ‘way’ is a step of faith. Faith leads the way to trust, delight, and commitment in the things of God. We have our desires, and of one of the greatest desires we have as believers is to make heaven our home. Jesus said in John 14:6, “...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Think about it, the God of ‘more’ is also the ‘way of more’. The way of righteousness we walk in leads us to a judgment of God’s approval. We will have walked in his ‘way’ and gained the ‘more’, all because of our trust, delight, and commitment to him!