What Does Psalm 37:4 Mean?

This article is part of the What Does It Mean? series.

Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. —Psalm 37:4

The Heart’s Desires

Doesn’t that sound terrific? Anything I want, and it will be mine! Until I think a little harder.

Suppose my heart desires for my boss to be sick or die. Will God give me that?

Suppose my heart desires, by some deceit, to get the credit for something I didn’t do. Will God give me that?

Suppose my heart desires my neighbor’s pretty wife. Will God give me her?

Of course not, for these break three of the ten commandments. Of course God will not give me things that are morally wrong.

In this comprehensive, 4-volume commentary, Christopher Ash provides a thorough treatment of all 150 Psalms, examining each chapter’s significance to David and the other psalmists, to Jesus during his earthly ministry, and to the church of Christ in every age.

But what about morally neutral things?

Suppose I really want a particular job. It’s a good job, a worthwhile job, and a job for which I feel I am equipped. Will God give me that?

Suppose I hope to date a particular person and hope I might marry them. This person is a believer. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t do this. Will God grant me this?

Suppose my spouse and I hope to have children. Will God bless us like that?

Suppose I long to be healed of some disease. Will God give me that?

The answer to all those questions is maybe. He might or he might not. But, someone objects, this verse tells me that God will give me the desires of my heart. May I not claim this as a promise? Why not?

Who Is “You?”

The big question is this: Who is “you” in this verse? To whom is this promise spoken?

The key to the second line is the first line. “You” is the man or woman who delights in the Lord, the covenant God, the God revealed to us in all the Scriptures. Here is a person who loves God with heart, mind, soul, and strength. One whose only desire and delight is the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One who loves not primarily the blessings that God may give but God himself. Who longs for God’s glory, for God’s kingdom, for God to be praised and honored.

We may paraphrase the verse like this: If you delight yourself in the covenant Lord, if you love him, if you want above all else to know him and see his kingdom, if this expresses the deepest desire of your heart, then you may be sure that God will give you what you want. Do you want God? You will have God. Do you delight in God? You will enjoy God.

Psalm 37:4 is echoed thematically by Jesus in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The promise of Psalm 37:4 is given to one who seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, who longs for this above all else.

Only Jesus delighted himself in the Father with a pure burning affection every moment of his life on earth.

So it is a wonderful promise. But it is also a bracing promise. For we may also paraphrase it negatively: If, in my heart of hearts, what I really delight in is some blessing which God may give, then I cannot qualify for the promise that God will give me this desire of my heart. I cannot go further than ‘maybe’ when I wonder if I can hope for this blessing. Maybe he will grant it, or maybe he won’t.

So in some ways this gives us an insuperable problem. Even if you or I genuinely love God and delight in him, which of us can put our hand on our heart and say that we do this perfectly? Which of us does not have times—sadly, many times—when what consumes our hopes and affections is not God but some blessing we hope God will give us? A job. A wife. A child. A healthy body. Or whatever it may be. And yet the moment I fall short of perfect delight in the Lord I disqualify myself from the promise that God will give me the desires of my heart.

Only One Qualifies

Only one man in history has qualified for this promise. Only Jesus delighted himself in the Father with a pure burning affection every moment of his life on earth. And therefore only Jesus is promised the desires of his heart. In Psalm 20 we pray for God’s King. We ask that God will grant the King his “heart’s desire” (Ps. 20:4). In Psalm 21 we celebrate the answers to the prayers of Psalm 20. So we sing, “You [God] have given him [the King] his heart’s desire” (Ps. 21:2). Jesus will have the desires of his heart because Jesus delights in the Father.

And yet Psalm 37 is given to encourage all who are righteous by faith. It is a psalm for all of us, not just a psalm for Jesus! This might be a good time to read right through the psalm and see what these righteous people look like. They learn to trust God in a troubled world, to do good, to commit their ways to the Lord, to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him, and so on. They really do delight in the covenant Lord. Not perfectly, for none of us does that. But, by the Spirit of Christ within, we too begin to delight in the covenant Lord. We really love him. We genuinely seek his kingdom and glory. Not flawlessly, but nevertheless truly. And so, in Jesus Christ and by his Spirit, as we begin to long for God, this verse promises us that God will give us more of God. As Jesus himself taught, our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit (the personal presence of God) to all who ask (Luke 11:13).

There is something wonderfully liberating about understanding this verse aright. If I love God more and more, if my heart desires God more and more, I will know God more and more, enjoy God more and more, delight in God more and more. And somehow, as I do that, the blessings that loomed so very large in my hopes are moved to the side of my affections. Oh, sure, I still want healing, a happy marriage, a successful job, or whatever it may be. It would be very odd not to want these things. But they are no longer central. What—or rather, who—fills the screen of my affections is God himself. God promises me God as I delight in God.

Christopher Ash is the author of The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary.

Christopher Ash is writer in residence at Tyndale House in Cambridge. He previously served as a pastor and church planter and as the director of the Proclamation Trust Cornhill Training Course in London. He and his wife, Carolyn, are members of a church in Cambridge, and they have four children and numerous grandchildren.

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