Walking in ObedienceSample

Take Delight in the Lord

Have you ever had to make a decision between something that makes the most logical sense on paper and the thing you believe God has asked you to do? The tension that comes when you recognize the two are not the same can feel confusing. By default, we tend to “follow our heart,” choose whatever we want or whatever feels good, and go with the path of least resistance, but sometimes what God calls us to isn’t the thing that feels right or seems the most obvious. More often than not, the path God asks us to take requires us to set aside what we want and what we can understand and choose to follow Him in spite of how wild or impossible it seems.

Proverbs 3 emphasizes the need to trust the Lord and not opt for what we can understand in our own minds. Allowing God to lead us requires our full submission and focus, which also means turning away from “worthless” things, as we see in Psalm 119:37. How to know the right “way” to go starts with what—or Who—we set our focus on. If our attention isn’t on the Lord, we will miss the mark of what to do and which way to go.

Psalm 37:4 tells us to “delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” In other words, delight first, and the desires will come. Here, the word “delight” means to be soft or tender. The psalmist is intentional to not simply say “be delightful,” but direction is given to point that tenderness toward the Lord and not ourselves. When we are tender toward ourselves, we tend to our own desires, but when we are tender toward the Lord, we tend to His desires for us. The more we focus our attention and affection on Him, the more the desires of our hearts line up with His. The path isn’t always easy, but there is an ease when you remain submitted to Him.

Maybe you feel like you’re at a fork in the road, and you’re trying to decide which way to go. Maybe you’re realizing the path of least resistance doesn’t lead to lasting fulfillment. Or maybe you’re in the midst of navigating what it looks like to fully depend on the Lord. Wherever you find yourself today, stop and take a moment to refocus your mind on Jesus. Turn away from your Instagram or newsfeed, set aside the ways you might want to fight back with logic, and fix your eyes on Him for no other reason than to simply delight in His presence.