"Delight thyself also in the Lord..."

"Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."
~ Psalm 37:4-5

The two verses above have been my “meditation” very often in the past month. I find myself being drawn to them over and over again. They have meant a lot to me, and are so fitting for where I am right now. One Sunday evening a few weeks ago I was thinking on these verses and decided to pick up Matthew Henry's Commentary and see what he had to say on them. I was very blessed by what he said!! Ever since then these verses have been my mediation more than they were previously... and Matthew Henry's thoughts have helped shape more exactly my thoughts in relation to the situation I am in. I hope his thoughts on these verses are a blessing to you also.

On Psalm 37:4-5:

“We must make God our heart's delight and then we shall have our heart's desire. We must not only depend upon God, but solace ourselves in him. We must be well pleased that there is a God, that he is such a one as he has revealed himself to be, and that he is our God in covenant. We must delight ourselves in His beauty, bounty, and benignity; our souls must return to him, and repose in him, as their rest, and their portion for ever. Being satisfied of his loving-kindness, we must be satisfied with it, and make that our exceeding joy, Ps. 43:4. We were commanded to do good, and then follows this command to delight in God, which is as much a privilege as a duty. If we make conscience of obedience to God, we may then take the comfort of a complacency in him. And even this pleasant duty of delighting in God has a promise annexed to it, which is very full and precious, enough to recompense the hardest services: He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. He has not promised to gratify all the appetites of the body and the humours of the fancy but to grant all the desires of the heart, all the cravings of the renewed sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and live to God, to please him and be pleased in him.

“We must make God our guide, and submit in every thing to his guidance and disposal; and then all our affairs, even those that seem most intricate and perplexed, shall be made to issue well and to our satisfaction. The duty is very easy; and if we do it aright, it will make us easy: Commit thy way unto the Lord; roll thy way upon the Lord (so the margin reads it), Prov. 16:3; Ps. 55:22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, the burden of thy care, 1 Pt. 5:7. We must roll it off ourselves, so as not to afflict and perplex ourselves with thoughts about future events (Mt. 6:25), not to cumber and troubles ourselves either with the contrivance of the means or with expectation of the end, but refer it to God, leave it to him by his wise and good providence to order and dispose of all our concerns as he pleases. We must do our duty (that must be our care) and then leave the event with God. Sit still, and see how the matter will fall, Ruth 3:18. We must follow Providence and not force it, subscribe to Infinite Wisdom and not prescribe. The promise is very sweet. In general, He shall bring it to pass, whatever it is, which thou has committed to him, if not to thy contrivance, yet to thy content. He will find means to extricate thee out of thy straits, to prevent thy fears, and bring about thy purposes, to thy satisfaction.”

~Matthew Henry