Outside a pastoral staff’s office in Truth Centre hangs a Bible verse in an exquisite typeface: “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). I feel comforted every time I pass by that door.

       The word “uncertainty” is very often heard in the news in recent years, whether on the social, political or economic front. Indeed, that is the characteristic of our world today. No one can predict how changes in government, family disruptions, sudden illnesses, or unjustified harm from wicked people might turn our daily lives upside down. As such, how can we “delight in the LORD”? The Lord Jesus on earth was “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” A life delighting in God does not seem to be free from worries, always happy, or without hardship.

       Isaiah 58 talks about training on fasting and the Sabbath: “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words…” It tells us that to experience rest, man must lay down his self, respect God’s will, and delight in His way. The passage then immediately describes a life of satisfaction — “then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” God speaking with His own mouth means it is a concrete promise of God: If man is willing to lay down his stubborn desire for stability and comfort and the trouble-free life he prefers (which is not necessarily wrong), and is more willing to joyfully choose to live according to God’s will, and find his delight in obeying His will, then God promises to make him “ride in triumph on the heights of the land.”

       Psalm 37 points out that God knows exactly what the human heart desires. Yet, He would not allow us to seek it unduly, nor is He pleased if we envy the wicked or learn from them to use evil ways to get what he wants, including desires for something good. More importantly, man must first delight in the LORD. This means “Trust in the LORD and do good,” and “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.” Then He promises to give us the desires of our heart. The way to receive the heart’s desires is to delight in the LORD.

       The truth is, in this world of suffering and sin, we will definitely go through hardship and anxiety if we wish to delight in the LORD. But the Lord Jesus has left us an example: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). We are not without tribulation and shame, but we scorn hardship and face it calmly, knowing this is God’s will for us. Persistence in the process will ultimately be met with grace! An elderly sister suffers multiple illnesses and has to tackle health problems all day long. Someone asked her how she could endure all of that. She replied: I delight in the LORD!