Rooted With Billy Huddleston

True Satisfaction

Psalm 37:4

“Delight thyself also in the Lord;

and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

I remember a conversation I had with a friend a few years ago. It was a conversation that was filled with pain, confusion, and longing. I want you to know that my friend is a good person. Actually, a Godly person. And yet, there seemed to be some things that were simply out of reach . . . things prayed for, believed for, longed for. But, sometimes time can be an uncooperative thing. Especially when you’re praying, believing, longing and nothing seems to be happening.

That’s when my friend brought up Psalm 37:4:

“I’m doing everything I know to do. I’m serving Jesus. I love Jesus with all my heart. I’m delighting in Him. Yet, there’s this desire that’s going unfilled . . . a longing that seems out of reach . . . So, tell me what I’m doing wrong. I’m delighting in Him, so why?”

Can you relate?

Have you been there?

Are you there now?

I don’t think my friend is alone is asking these questions. We’ve all been there. We don’t understand why things are happening the way they are. Or, why they’re not happening at all. Maybe, we’ve even held on to Psalm 37:4.

I want to ask you a question.

An, honest question.

Please, think a bit with me.

Could it be that we’re making Psalm 37:4 say something that it doesn’t actually say? Is it possible that we’re using it to simply fulfill our worldly desires? Perhaps, there is a greater meaning to this text that will lead us to a level of true satisfaction. Let’s look at what the verse actually says.

To fully understand what the psalmist is saying, there are two questions that we need to answer:

The first, what does it mean to delight in something?

And second, what is a desire?

What does it mean to delight in something?

When considering the definition of delight, we realize that to delight is to gain great pleasure, satisfaction, or enjoyment. It could be described as a feeling of very great pleasure, or what brings great pleasure.

If we apply this to the statement in the psalm it would look something like this:

“Gain your great pleasure, great satisfaction, great enjoyment in the Lord . . .”

What is a desire?

We’ll do the same here as we did before, we’ll simply define desire. Desire defined carry’s the thought of a craving, a wish, a longing, or what you really want. This longing, craving is for what will bring satisfaction or enjoyment. It’s an expressed wish with the objective to obtain.

So, let’s apply this thought to the second half of our verse:

“. . . and He shall give thee that which you crave, wish, long for . . .

He shall give thee that which brings satisfaction or enjoyment of thine heart.”

Do you see it?

The answer is right there in the meaning of the words!

“Gain your great satisfaction in the Lord;

and He will give you that which satisfies.”

In other words, when He becomes that which brings great satisfaction in our lives, He will give that which satisfies. He will give us more of Himself, His presence. Then, we’ll find what true satisfaction is all about!

When we’re always seeking other things we’ll never have enough. It will simply be a constant search for the next thing that will bring us temporary enjoyment, pleasure. But, when He becomes our deepest craving, longing – He’ll give more and more of Himself and we’ll find He is enough. Until He is enough, we’ll never have enough. But, when we understand He is enough, then we’ll have all we need.

So, let me ask a few more questions:

What is it that you crave? Long for?

Where is your great satisfaction found?

Is He that which brings great satisfaction in your life?

Only when He becomes our longing, our craving, our great satisfaction will we ever know true satisfaction.

Be encouraged this week.

Find your longings met in Him.