In listening for God’s word to you in Holy Scripture, always
check the context of a verse that comes to your attention. There is a
potentially dangerous promise in Psalm 37:4 that almost invites us to
misunderstand it. It says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you
the desires of your heart.” But
bear this in mind; the Lord, in His love and holiness, knows the desires of
your heart and he knows better than you the danger that some of your desires
would reap. In order to understand this particular verse, you have to read it
in the context of the rest of the Psalm, and in the larger context of Holy
Scripture.
There is the story of the old woman who had a not
uncommon devotional custom. She would close her eyes, open the bible at random,
and place her finger somewhere on the page, open her eyes and read God’s word
for her that day. After all, she heard that it worked once for St. Augustine, so
it ought to work for her. At the turning point of Augustine’s conversion, he
heard children’s voices chanting “Lift! Look!” He rushed to take up “the book
of the Apostle” and read the first verse his eyes fell upon and his life was
forever changed.
But the old woman was not St. Augustine. She closed her
eyes, opened her bible, put her finger on the page, opened her eyes and read
that Judas, “went and hanged himself.” Not finding that particularly edifying
she tried the same method again, and read, “You go, and do likewise." She
gave God another chance to speak, closed her eyes, opened her bible, put her
finger on a text, opened her eyes and read, “What you are going to do, do
quickly."
If you want God to speak to you through Holy Scripture read
systematically by reading His word in the appointed Psalms and the lectionary
readings of the Daily Office; or if you are reading Scripture apart from the
Offices, read it systematically, not haphazardly. Don’t just read a verse or a
paragraph, read the whole chapter, or the whole epistle, or the whole book. And
if you really want to know for yourself what God is saying, read the whole
Bible and see the larger context. It is also helpful to consult a good
commentary. For that purpose, I recommend: http://biblehub.com/commentaries/.
Does God promise willy-nilly whatever our hearts desire
if we delight in Him? Familiarize yourself with the context of the verse that
has drawn your attention and check the overall teaching of Holy Scripture on
the subject. The promise in Psalm 37:4
is for those who delight in the Lord, and not in themselves. That immediately saves
a lot of trouble. The Apostle John says, “And this is the confidence
that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears
us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have
the requests that we have asked of him” [1 John 5:14-15]. As much as I might like an Aston Martin One-77 it may
not be God’s will for me have one; especially seeing that the cost is $1.85
Million.
What is the context of our
promise, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of
your heart”? This Psalm was written for those who are suffering at the hands of
the wicked, and its counsel and its promises should be understood in that
context. It begins, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of
wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green
herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend
faithfulness” [Psalm 37:1-3]. If
that is your situation “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the
desires of your heart.” But hear also both
the immediate and larger context of this Psalm,
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will
act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as
the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not
yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out
evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it
tends only to evil” [Psalm 37:5-8].
The Psalm has several similar
promises, among them, “For the evildoers
shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land” [Psalm 37:5-9].
There
is however something very serious in the larger context that needs to be
considered. How do we understand this Psalm and other similar passages in the
light of the ongoing testimony of the martyrs, not just in years gone by, but
in this present day? After all this Psalm must be placed in the context of the
teaching of Jesus who said,
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that
you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For
nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be
famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of
the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to
death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake” [Matthew 24:6-9].
To put flesh on the bones on the promise in Psalm 37; in
our diocese we are praying for the mother of one of our priests who is from an
area where there is savage persecution by radical Muslims. The mother of this
priest came to visit in the United States and accepted Jesus Christ as her
Savior. On returning to her home a number of her friends have also accepted
Christ. Join us in praying for the protection of these new Christians, “For the
LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit
the land and dwell upon it forever” [Psalm
37:28-29].
Yet sometimes the way before us is hard, and in the words
of Psalm 42 I pray for myself and others,
“Deep
calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night
his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life” [Psalm 42:7-8]. However, we do not always get the deliverance that we
pray for. St. Paul endured many things including eventual martyrdom; yet
Paul also testifies,
“Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all
the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Romans 8:35-39].
Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of
God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is indeed the point. Sooner or later, and
most of us hope later, everyone has to die. The basic question is, “In what do
we put our trust?” This life is
transitory. Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill
the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” [Matthew 10:28], and Jesus provides us with a
model, saying, "If anyone would come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” [Matthew 16:24].
That brings us back around to the original promise, “Delight
yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” If we
truly delight in the Lord, the desires of our hearts will be to do His will,
whatever that is in our current situations, and we will pray with the Christ, “Sacrifice
and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt
offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, "Behold, I
have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I desire to do your
will, O my God; your law is within my heart” [Psalm 40:6-8].
_______________
UPWARD RHYTHM
what an amazing thing!
In my darkness Light has shone
illuminating the way before me.
Adoring I gaze upon Him,
And I am becoming
Light and Love in Him.
In the discomfort of transformation
I ask myself. What can I do
To drop again into darkness
That I might be comfortable again?
But the Light catches me,
And Love envelops me,
And draws me up again.
There is a rhythm in the soul;
God’s Love crashing
on the stony shore of my heart
Drawing away the flotsam and jetsam
Of my past and washing it clean.
I throw myself into Love’s wave
Rejoicing, and I am made new.
