I was at a church this Sunday and Psalm 37 was the message. Afterwards a woman came up to me inconsolable. She had trusted God, prepared, waited, lived, and did everything she could to prepare her heart life for marriage.
Now in her latter years in her 60’s, she still was single and waiting. I offered to pray for her and she barely received it. She was being crushed under the heavy yoke of disappointment. This verse was one that had provoked her tears:
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart”
(Ps 37:3-4)
This verse meant originally written for encouragment has caused no shortage of heartache and pain. It immediately can bring a flood of tears to those who are single and want to be married, to the married who want children and cannot have them, or the person praying for a miracle for healing or something else and wondering why it does not come.
Hope that is not fulfilled can crush the spirit. It can also wound a relationship between a person and God. The unanswered questions and prayers can disappoint, as it did for this woman.
What does this text actually mean?
Does it mean that whatever we desire, if we are committed to the Lord, and our request is a holy request, and that it is aligned with His will, that God will give us what we ask? Is this what the text says?
What Psalm 37:4 Means in Context
Israel lived in the land of Egypt for a season, then the land of Babylon, and finally in AD 70 they were scattered to the lands of the nations. In this particular time of the writing of the psalm, it was in the time of David. Battles over the land raged. Yet God had given Israel this particular piece of property to Israel.
“To your offspring I give this land” — Genesis 12:7
“I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” — Genesis 15:7
What was happening in Psalm 37 is that it seemed like the wicked were the ones prospering. They were getting all the blessings even though they were doing evil. They were in the land and seemed to be the ones establishing themselves. Every direction they turned it was battles and fights and some victories and losses.
How is it that if the promises of God were about inheriting the land, that the evil-doers would be the ones prospering on the land, and not Israel? That is the message of the Psalm.
Here’s the point: This Psalm is about THE LAND:
- Psalm 37:3 — “Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.”
- Psalm 37:9 — “For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.”
- Psalm 37:11 — “But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”
- Psalm 37:22 — “For those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.”
- Psalm 37:27 — “Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.”
- Psalm 37:29 — “The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.”
- Psalm 37:34 — “Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.”
What was the desire of the heart of the people of Israel? It was that they would be established in the land.
What was the problem? The wicked seemed to be doing way better than they were. It seemed they were the ones being established in the land.
What was God’s solution? Don’t fret. Be persistent in righteousness. Ultimately God will win.
What was the ‘Desire of their Heart’?
This Psalm was written for the Israelites, encouraging them to remain faithful to God even when their eyes saw the prosperity of the wicked. Within this context, let’s go back to the verse that gives people so much trouble:
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart”
(Ps 37:3-4)
What does he tell them?
- Trust in the Lord
- Do good
- Dwell in the land
- Befriend faithfulness
- Delight yourself in the Lord
Don’t run away. Dwell in the land. And trust the Lord. His promises of establishing Israel in the land would come to pass in time.
What was “the desire of their heart”? The land.
This isn’t a promise that anyone who has a desire in their heart should simply believe that if they delight in the Lord and stay faithful, God will give them the desires of their heart. This is a verse written to Israel about his covenant promise that He would establish them in the land.
The land was the desire of their heart–a place to call home for Israel. They had a history already of being homeless. Egypt was not their home until God called them to leave. Every Israelite knew this history from their ancestors.
Having a place to call home is everything. Especially if you are an entire nation.
Even Jesus Shows us What Psalm 37 is About
Jesus is going to clearly reference Psalm 37. What is interesting is that even though he is in the middle of the beatitudes which is all about blessings, blessings, blessings, he does not reference the Psalm as God fulfilling the desires of our hearts as the important part of Psalm 37. You would think he would do so as that’s the verse we in modern times draw out of Psalm 37.
Instead, how does Jesus reference and summarize this Psalm? It’s about the land.
“But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” — Psalm 37:11
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” — Matthew 5:5
Jesus is saying that the covenant promises of God will be fulfilled, that they will inherit the earth. In the time of David and ancient Israel, that meant the land. Under the new covenant, I believe it is even greater than the land of Israel. “The earth” broadens the fulfillment.
God is saying this: the wicked ultimately will not win. God’s purposes will win. We will inherit all that God has given to us.
What Psalm 37:4 Means for Us Today
When we put Psalm 37:4 into context, we can avoid unnecessary heartbreak by trying to force a text (and force God) to give us our heart’s desires, even if they are good, Godly, and righteous. It isn’t that God doesn’t want us to give us the desires of our hearts, he does, but to use this verse to insist God must to do so as a promise or that He s morally obligated to do so because of this verse is not in alignment with the text.
The hearts desire of Israel was the land. The evil ones looked like the people getting it. But God’s promises were going to be fulfilled.
That’s what this psalm is all about.