3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.[a]
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act. (Psalm 37:3-5 ESV)
Often times, people will only read verse 4 and think that if they but worship and be happy in the Lord that they will be given the desires of their hearts. But reading out of context like this misses the bigger part of what God is trying to impart. Which, in the end, is a total commitment to His way.
We are first told to trust, do good and be faithful. God creates a baseline for delighting in Him. When we show trust we know that no matter what God will come through for us. This then turns to us doing good as we know that this is what God wishes for our lives. In doing these two things we “befriend faithfulness” as we are trusting and doing in the Lord.
Now, actually in verse 4 we begin with the key to the narrative. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, and are doing what is asked of us in verse 3 how can He not give us the desires of our hearts? Because those desires should then be aligned with God’s desires. We are living our lives for Him and in Him.
Lastly, in verse 5, He commands us to commit our ways to Him. We already trust, are doing good, being faithful and delighting in Him. Now He ask that we commit to this way of living, not just once in a while but all the time. Then, God comes back around to trust as He knows we are not trusting creatures and we need reminding. God has been acting all along, but He also resonates that when we are in Him he will act and it will be evident in our lives.
