Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
I once had a conversation with a friend where this verse came up. We talked about how it's highly unlikely that this verse is meant to be taken literally. More than likely God will not just give you the desires of your heart. If by that it's meant that we will get whatever we want. My friend suggested that maybe what this verse is actually saying is that He will put His desires in our hearts, so that our desires will be what He desires for us to desire.
Does this make any sense? I hope so.
A few years later, another friend and I had a conversation which referenced this verse. This time, it was the beginning of the verse that was the focus of discussion. "I wonder what is meant by 'delight'?" she asked.
Well, I have a concordance and I'm not afraid to use it.
This is what I found. The word that is translated to delight is Anag or anawg. The definition of that word is to be soft or pliable.
Pliable:
1. Easily bent or shaped. See Synonyms at malleable.
2. Receptive to change; adaptable: pliable attitudes.
3. Easily influenced, persuaded, or swayed; tractable.
Soak that one in for a second...
Be easily bent or shaped
Be receptive to change
Be adaptable
Be easily influenced
(by) the Lord and He will give you the desires that He wants you to have in your hearts.
Wow.
So.
The moral of the story, as always, is surrender. Surrender and He will work it out. He'll even make it so you are totally fine with how He works it out. Overnight? Maybe. Maybe not.
But He does work all things out for the good of those who are called by Him. I've seen it over and over and over.
Is He awesome or what?
