Delight

Psalm 37:3-4 NIV: “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

This is one of those if/then verses. Not that life is as easy as an equation of inputs and outputs, but the sentiment of this verse is one I hold dear. The responsibilities on my end are the majority of these verses. I am to trust in the Lord; trust meaning to be confident in or seek refuge in the Lord. I am to do good in the broadest sense of the word good. I should dwell in the land. This is more abstract, as I don’t think God means I need to go build a house on some land. Dwell in Hebrew means to settle down or reside permanently. When I began to imagine this, I immediately thought of roots growing deep and strong into the earth. God was speaking to Israel in the Psalms, so for them, the land to settle in was literal, and yet for us today the “land” represents God’s promises and provisions for us. I suppose part of trusting him is being willing to take root where he’s placed me.

In the NIV this next part says, “and enjoy safe pasture,” but other versions translate this as “cultivate his faithfulness”. Those feel like 2 different ideas. The word for cultivate is ra’ah which means to tend a flock or graze and the word used for faithfulness means stability or firmness. I think the NIV interpreted this as grazing in a stable place and thus enjoying “safe pastures.” However, there is a second meaning for ra’ah which is to keep company or make friendship with. This is where the word cultivates comes from in some translations. I love this image of keeping company with God’s faithfulness. I suppose this could also be to graze and spend time in the steadfastness of God.

There is one more responsibility we have besides trusting, doing good, rooting down, and grazing, and that is to delight ourselves in the Lord. The Hebrew word anog used here means soft, effeminate, or luxurious, which initially seems odd to then change that to delight. But think of it as a tender, delicate satisfaction that comes after you are filled – filled with love, or sustenance, or beauty. In fact, in Isaiah the word delight is used in reference to a baby in a milk coma after nursing (my paraphrase of Isaiah 66:11). We are asked then to delight in the Lord- be completely satisfied and filled with pleasure by what he provides.

When all these things happen, God gives us our heart’s desires. The word desire means requests and petitions, things we ask for that come from our inner selves.

I chose to represent these ideas with a child, so settled in the land that roots grow from his legs into the earth. The land is bountiful and full, a place that will be steadfast and secure with provisions. I couldn’t help but think of rain as the symbol for God, and thus the source of delight, watering the earth and crops, but also to the boy’s delight as he drinks and is nourished by the rain. I represented the desires of the heart with a heart-shaped basket, from which all the boy’s desires have been scribbled.