Psalms 37:4

“The Beauty of the Holiness of God and Submission.”

Psalms 37:4-5 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

Psalms chapter 37 is a Psalm which teaches us that submission to the will of God can be delight. These two verses in Psalms are very similar to Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Let us read them together now: Psalms 37:4-5, and Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Remember that the word delight is a word that is used elsewhere in the Bible to mean, ‘softly’ or ‘delicately’. And the word delight is a word that is used in association with womanhood. One of the greatest characteristics of women which makes a woman feminine and thus more attractive is the natural submissiveness and delicate way of a woman. God created women to be beautiful. But that natural beauty of a woman is made all the more attractive by her submissive spirit and delicate feminine way.

Consider the use of the word delight as translated delicate in Deuteronomy 28:56 says, “The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness.”

“Delight thyself also in the LORD.” God created men and women both in his image. God has both the characteristics of men and women. Perhaps this is the reason it says in Proverbs 30:18-19 “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.”

Romance between a man and a woman when that man and woman are what God made them to be is such a delight and such an illustration of the character of God. We know that God has the characteristics of both men and women because all the names given in the bible are masculine and also because Jesus used the illustration of a hen, a female chicken to illustrate his love and desire for his children when he said in Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.”

When you think of the characteristics and the differences between male and female do not think of the physical characteristics but think of the nature of men and the nature of women. The nature of man is that of dominance and authority and the nature of woman is that of submission. The almighty God has both of these qualities.

More often than not human beings tend to be either too dominate or too submissive in the wrong ways. But God who is all powerful has both a permissive will and a predestined will in his plan for mankind. Here in Psalms chapter 37 the word delight is used because what is being talked about is how the will of man should be in relation to the will of God: submissive not rebellious.

In the previous chapter of Psalms, Psalms 36 the contrast between God and man was given: man is sinful and depraved but God is holy. In speaking of the Holiness of God these characteristics are mentioned in Psalms 36: mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, wisdom, lovingkindness, and the good pleasure of the will of God. The holiness of God is beautiful.

First Chronicles 16:29 says, “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” Psalms 29:2 says, “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

God loves freedom. God has given man a free will. God loves the way of a man with a maid. God created romance. It is natural and good that men are attracted to women. God made woman to be beautiful. But the attraction of a man to a woman and the beauty of a woman can never compare to the beauty of God in His Holiness.

The word Holy means: to be without sin, to be perfect, to be separated. The best way to compare that which is Holy to that which is unholy is to compare light to dark. The two are opposite. The Bible says in Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.”

How beautiful and majestic are the heavens and the brightness of the stars that shine. How beautiful is nature and womanhood. How desirable is beauty. If a person is born blind how can they even imagine the beauty of a woman or the glory of the heavens? All men are born blind spiritually because they are born into sin.

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 4:3-6, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ reveals the beauty of the holiness of God. The light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ reveals the delight of submission to the will of God.

Psalms 37:4 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

The desire of man should be to submit unto the will of God. The world would have men believe that to submit unto Christ has no pleasure in it. Yes there is suffering if you follow Christ and there is persecution. But there is greater delight in submitting unto the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ greater delight than the delights of the world.

When Adam sinned and went against the will of God because of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, he made the same mistake that all men make when they sin. He chose to not delight in the LORD and instead delighted in his own selfish will.

What is attractive about God, what is desirable about God is his Holiness. What is delightful and what is beautiful about God and about the Word of God is its holiness and its purity.

God created man to have desires, strong desires. The problem is because man is sinful he in his sinful nature desires all the wrong things. There is nothing more desirable in this world than the beauty of the Holiness of God. It will take you a lifetime to learn about the beauty of the holiness of God and you will only learn it if you submit unto the will of God.

In considering Psalms 37:4 and the phrase, “Delight thyself also in the LORD” consider Isaiah 53:2 which says of Jesus, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

Unlike how the world portrays what Christ must have looked like when he walked this earth, the Bible says that physically he was very unattractive. The world focuses too much on physical attraction between men and women in the wrong way so that they misunderstand the spiritual symbolism behind it which it taught here in Psalms 37:4 in the word, ‘delight’.

Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

When Christ came to this earth he humbled himself. He in way hid the beauty of His holiness just has he hid the greatnesss of his power and majesty when he garbed himself in sinful flesh. At first glance the will of God often seems to have no form or comeliness, no beauty that we should desire it. Yet the truth is there is nothing more desirable than to submit unto the will of God

Psalms 37:4-5 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” The word delight is a word that speaks of softness and the beauty of submission. In considering how Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the I am that I am, the eternally existent one, the Almighty LORD of Hosts who created the heavens and the earth, the king of kings, the one who’s name is both Jehovah and Jealous, the one who is a consuming fire, how amazing it is that Jesus who is before all things and above all things in his Holiness, reaches out to man with such, ‘softness’ of spirit and of word.

This is why life is meant to be lived by faith in the promises of God. Man is sinful and God his holy. Light and dark do not mix. We love him because He first loved us. We learn to delight in Jesus because Jesus delights in us. In other words the submission of Christ to God the father is what teaches us to delight in God. And this submission is learned through and only through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in the gospel of First John 2:8-12, “Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto ou, little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.”

Psalms 37:4 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Can you hear the still small voice of the Spirit of God speaking and touching you through the word of God. The submission of Jesus Christ to God the father in coming to this earth to suffer and die on the cross for your sins, my sins, and the sins of all the world teaches us the delight of submission to the will of God. How desirable it is to submit unto the will of God and in that submission to learn of the beauty of the Holiness of God through the forgiveness of sins that is found in the blood of Jesus Christ who lived, and died on the cross of Calvary becoming sin for us, who rose again from the grave defeating sin and death, that by grace through faith and not of works those whom turn from their sins and believe in the in the name of the only begotten son of God might have eternal life. Delight thyself also in the LORD. Desire, softness, submission, the beauty of holiness: These things describe what it means to have the desires of thine heart the way that God intended for the desires of man’s heart to be fulfilled because the desire of God’s heart is that man can find redemption from sin through Jesus Christ. This is the delight and the will of God. If you have turned from your sins do so now and delight thyself also in the LORD.

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