II. We Are To Delight in the Lord When Our Dreams Dissolve
Look in verse 4. “Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy, thine heart.” Do you know why we fret sometimes when our dreams dissolve? When our joy is being threatened? You’ve got to find a source of joy that cannot be threatened. And what is that? There’s only one source of joy that cannot be threatened—that’s the Lord.
Delight yourself in the Lord and then the desire of your heart will be met. Now if you delight yourself in finances, the desire of your heart can be threatened. If you delight yourself in family, you may have to kiss them goodbye. I mean, circumstances change. Only when your desire is totally wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ, at least primarily, then you’re going to find the innermost needs of your heart are met.
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So many, people misread this verse, in verse 4. They get the idea, you know, if I love God, I can have whatever I want. No! If you love God, you’ve got what you want. This is what God’s Word says. Delight yourself in the Lord and you’ll have the desire of your heart, which is the Lord. Your innermost need is the Lord himself.
Do you know Him? Is He the chief desire of your heart? Even when your dreams dissolve? Corrie Ten Boom said this, Look around and you’ll be distressed. Look within—you’ll be depressed. Look to the Lord— you’ll be at rest. Delight yourself in the Lord.
Now I said God will put you in school. He’ll teach you to trust and He will not let you out of that school until your chief delight is in Him alone. Can you say that your heart pants for Him as the dear pants after the water brook? Children, wealth, home and the job can be threatened.
In Hebrews 10:34 we read, “For ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods.” Now what if you got home tonight and somebody had been through your house? And what if they emptied your house because you’re a believer, a Christian? What if some army came in there and took away everything that you had? That’s what happened to these early Christians. The Bible says, “And they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance.”
You want to know everything you have that really counts? You add up everything you have that money can’t buy and death can’t take away. These early Christians saw their houses looted, they saw their material things taken away and yet they were praising God. I had to ask myself this question—could I do that? Could you do that?
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In 2 Corinthians 6:10, Paul speaks of those believers as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. There is a tension that we have in his life—the sorrowful that come when a loved one has cancer, a baby dies, a home is broken, or a child runs away. There is a sorrow yet always rejoicing. Paul says, “As poor and yet making many rich.” Then, he says, “as having nothing and possessing all things.”
The devil comes, to us and says, “Look, if you will serve me, I’ll pay you well.” Our response is, “Devil, you don’t need to pay me, you can’t pay me, I have everything, so what can you give me?” Well, he says, “Listen, if you don’t serve me, I’ll take away everything you’ve got.” Our response is, “You can’t take away anything, I don’t have anything.” You see, as possessing nothing and having all things. What can the devil do with a man like that? That’s the person whose delight is in the Lord.
You can tell so much about a person by what makes him/her mad, sad, or glad, can’t you? “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desire of your heart.”
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III. We Are To Commit Our Way to the Lord When Our Lifestyle Is Threatened
We are to commit our way to the Lord when our lifestyle is threatened. In Psalm 37:5 we read, “Commit thy way unto the Lord.” These terms mean lifestyle. It has the idea of a well-traveled path. It represents the way we are used to living. He says here, “Commit your way,” your lifestyle, “unto the Lord; trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.” The word for “trust” has a different meaning than the first word trust. It literally means to roll your way on to the Lord; just put it in His hands.
Give it to Him. Roll it on to Him. Now, if you do this, your standard of living may be changed, but not your standard of life. It’s very important you understand this. There’s a difference between a standard of living and a standard of life. We are to roll that on to the Lord.
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Your “way” means also your reputation and your lifestyle. You don’t need to protect yourself when somebody says something bad about you. In verse six we read, “And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday.” We need roll everything on to the Lord.
Suppose you had in your breast pocket one hundred thousand dollars. You would say, “Yeah, that would be neat.” You would also begin thinking, I ought not to walk around with that much cash. I might lose it. Somebody might know I have much cash and I could get mugged. I need to do something with this.
Well what do you do? When the bank is open in the morning, you go to the bank, you fill out a deposit slip, you count the money out and you give it to the lady or the man at the bank counter. You just push it over that way. They take it and count it and give you a receipt. What did you do? You committed it, right? Whew! It’s gone. It’s still mine, but I’ve put it in their trust. That’s what you need to learn how to do—just take it and put it in the Lord’s trust. Just commit it to him.
After you make this bank deposit, you won’t get a couple of, revolvers and sit on the front steps of the bank to protect your money. If you didn’t think that they could take care of it, you wouldn’t give it to them, you’d put it somewhere else.
There comes a time when you roll your burdens on to the Lord, your way, your lifestyle, and you trust Him with them. When it’s threatened, just say, Here, Lord, I roll that on you. There is somebody that you can roll your burden on and doesn’t cost two thousand dollars a week. The Bible says commit your way unto your Lord, and trust also in Him. He will bring it to pass. Roll your burden on to the Lord when your lifestyle is threatened, when your way doesn’t seem to be right or make sense.
IV. We Are To Rest in the Lord When God Seems Slow to Act
In verse 7 we read, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”
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We cannot rest until we are trusting, until we are delighted, and until we are committed. Once we trust in the Lord, once we delight ourselves in the Lord and rolled everything on the Lord, then, then we can say “rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”
And this word rest, it also actually means “being silent before the Lord.” It implies we are not to murmur. Rest in the Lord; don’t complain. Now one man said, “I’m upset.” His friend said, “Why?” “Because I’m in a hurry and God’s not.” Well, we can’t hurry the Lord up. We have to wait patiently for God.
Proverbs 30:51 says, “For anger endures but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Joy comes in the morning. He’s saying that His presence is like the sunrise. Joy comes in the morning. There is one thing about the sunrise—you can’t hurry it up. I’ll tell you something else about it—you can’t stop it. One of these days in God’s timing, He’s going pull back the shades of night and pin them with a star, open the door of the morning and flood your world with His joy and His peace. We need to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
There is no panic in heaven. None. Only plans. The kingdom of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I heard about a little boy who sat up all night long, wondering where the sun went. Finally, it dawned on him. It’ll dawn on you. “And unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” And friend, when we trust in the Lord, when we delight in the Lord, when we commit to the Lord, when we rest in the Lord, we’ll be too blessed to be stressed.
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Until The Last Person Has Heard,
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Dr. James. O. Davis
Founder/President
Global Church Network
Cochair / Global Networking
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