Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - REPLAY: Most Misused: Psalm 37:4

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

Today we continue our series talking about commonly used and misused verses and what they really mean, this time with Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey  

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Welcome to Relatable. Today, we are going to start a series that I'm really excited about. I had a ton of fun preparing for this episode. Some of you have asked me to do this before and I just thought that it was a great idea. So what we are going to do, I don't know if this is going to be a series that is every day. week in a row or if I'm going to kind of spread it out, it might be good to spread it out so you guys don't get worn out by this. But I am going to take a commonly used and commonly misused verse and talk about what it actually means. What is the real context of this verse? What does it tell us about God and how are we supposed to apply it to our lives? Today we are going to talk about

Psalm 374, which is, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. This is a very popular verse. In future episodes, we will talk about Philippians 413. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Jeremiah 29.11, I know the plant I have for you, Matthew 7.1. Don't judge. Let's you be judged in any other verses that you guys would like me to approach that you see misused, pervasively, not just a one-off. I'm happy to address those as well. I think even those of you who might anticipate what I am going to say or who know the proper study of these verses, I still think that you will enjoy these episodes. And as always, if you've got something to add or even something that you disagree with in what I say,

please feel free to reach out to me and let me know. I love learning with you guys. So like I said, I am really excited about this. I had a whole lot of fun preparing it. It took me a long time. And I could really probably talk about this for a lot longer than I'm going to today because there's just so much here and so much to talk about. But before we get into all of it, I do want to say that we have all misinterpreted verses at one point in our walk. I have never met someone who had a full and flawless theological understanding as soon as they got saved. We have all had bad theology at some point in our lives. I was actually thinking about this because I know I mentioned this the other day and couldn't think of examples off the top of my head, but I was thinking about bad theology that I've had or just

theological misunderstandings. I remember this phrase that I used to use when I was in college that I thought was so clever. I'm sure other people have used it as well. But I remember saying the phrase, God cannot use a parked car or God cannot drive a parked car, meaning I have to be moving forward so God can actually direct me. That is not true. God does not need me. Yes, we are called to obedience. We are called to be obedient and responsive to his call. of course there are actions that we are called to take but even my obedience even our obedience is a work of the holy spirit i can't even take credit for that uh not any kind of innate discipline that i have actually moves me towards obedience to god it is all him working in my life just as a rule

of thumb by the way most phrases theological phrases that start with the term god can't they're probably going to be inaccurate uh we have to to be really careful in saying what God cannot do. God doesn't need us. He is God. He can do whatever he wants to do. If he can raise us from spiritual death to life through Christ because of no merit of our own or no effort of our own, as Ephesians 2 says, that I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty

sure God can drive a parked car. So that to say, if you're listening to any of these episodes and you realize, oh, wow, I have misused that verse. That's embarrassing. Yeah. All I have to say to you is, welcome to the club. We have all done that. some point in our lives. That is how I know it happens because not only have I seen it happening,

but I've also done it myself. I have been there, girlfriend, I have been there. Thankfully, God is faithful. He is good. He is gracious. He draws us in. He is our teacher. He gently instructs us. He corrects us. He disciplines us and thank God for the Holy Spirit and that he left his inerrant word for us to be able to learn from. He wants us to have a correct understanding of who he is. He uses, as I said, the Holy Spirit. and his written word to guide us. As this is episode number one in the series, I do need to back up a bit and give us some context for our analysis or for why we're even doing analyses of these verses in the first place. I did an episode a while ago titled Reading the Bible that

walked through how we can approach scripture reading to make sure that we are interpreting the text as accurately as we possibly can. That means we look at the text in the context and ask ourselves, what does this mean? What does this say about God? And for there, what lesson am I supposed to draw from this? So that's not inserting ourselves in the center of the narrative and making ourselves the star of the biblical play. It is making sure that God is in his rightful place in the center and acknowledging him as the leading role in the biblical narrative and the historical and eternal narrative, of course. As I've said many times, it is impossible to know God intimately unless we know God accurately. It is impossible to know God intimately unless we know God accurately.

If you couldn't tell me any of your spouse's characteristics, for instance, if you couldn't tell me what his interests are, what he likes, what he doesn't like, what his background is, where he's from, what he does for work, I'm going to assume that you guys, I'm going to probably think it's weird that you guys are married or that you're just a terrible listener and I'm going to kind of wonder how things are going, I'm also going to assume just that you guys aren't very close. Or the same thing with a friend. If you can't relate to the spouse example, if you can't give me an accurate description of what your friend is like, I am just going to assume that you don't know her very well and

that your friendship probably isn't very strong. I think that's probably a fair assessment. When you start dating a guy and you start to really like them and especially when you feel yourself falling in love with them and every waking moment, you want to spin with them and nothing they could do would possibly ever. annoy you. You try to learn everything about him. You want to know about his family, his background, his hobbies, his interests, his strengths, weaknesses, his pet peeve, what makes him angry, what brings him joy. You spend hours talking to him, thinking about him coming up with ways to show your love

for him, to serve him, to prove how well you know him. That's because knowledge and love go hand in hand. When you love someone, you want to know them. And it's only when you know someone that you can really, truly love them. Unfortunately, in young women's Christian circles, sometimes emotion reigns. Now, women do tend to be more emotional than men, and that is not a pejorative. That is not a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with that. God made us that way. Women's inherent sensitivity and empathy are God-given strengths that can be used for his glory as we comfort those in affliction, as we nurture the vulnerable, as we sympathize with those in need. That doesn't mean that men aren't also called to those things or that men aren't also nourishing or nurturing and

men don't also have emotion of of course they do but women tend to be more emotional than men are and that is a good thing that's why men and women one reason why we compliment each other so well and both men and women are made in the image of god so our innate propensity towards being a little bit more emotional is not bad but here's here's the thing with that in order for our emotions to glorify god they first have to submit to God. When we don't submit our emotions to God, they end up ruling us and leading us to straight. Jeremiah 179 says this,

the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? That is a radical verse in this day and age. In a time when self-obsession is regarded as virtue when self-discovery is presented as the path to fulfillment when introspection and constant self-evaluation, are offered as the most important and necessary tools to maintaining this overused term of mental health,

the world is stunned and offended to hear that we shouldn't follow our hearts, that not all of our feelings are valid, that not all of our desires should be given into. That is blasphemy today. Blasphemy towards the entity that society today worships, the God of Self. As I said, saying that we should not follow our hearts because our hearts is the Bible says is our desperately wicked is blasphemy toward the entity that society today worships the God of self. If you are your own God, you have no other option but to follow your heart to defer to your feelings. But guys, how exhausting is that? How tiring is that? Even those of you who aren't

Christians, can you just have a moment of honesty for a second with yourself and admit that, yeah, more than once your heart has led to astray? Maybe you thought that that, that, guy would love you after you had sex with him and he didn't you were wrong maybe you thought that pursuing your dream job would fulfill you but it didn't maybe you thought that traveling europe after college uh to find yourself would make you feel free and happy but it didn't i mean can't we all do the same thing can't we all think of the times when our hearts let us in the wrong direction toward a wrong person toward a wrong life choice one that seemed right at the time but turned out maybe not just disappointing but devastating.

Can't we all think back to times in our lives when we've done the same thing? The heart is deceptive. It is wicked. It is not worth following. The new age has made a comeback in recent years. We've talked about this before as Christianity has become less mainstream in this country, which is essentially the worship of self. You even hear language like the universe will smile on you if you do this,

if you're confident, if you do the things that make you happy. So in this scenario of this New Age universe smiling on you, you are the center of the universe and you are being worshipped by the entire cosmos. That is what the New Age believes. Crystals, hypnosis, Zen, vibrations, so like good vibes. Yes, even the Eniogram, which we talked about a couple of weeks ago, have all been glorified as tools for self-knowledge. the new age regards self-knowledge, self-understanding as the highest form of spiritual health

and the key to lifelong satisfaction and confidence. But guess what? Self-understanding will never fully satisfy us because it's not the fuel our souls run on. We can be intimately acquainted with ourselves and still feel lonely and unfulfilled. This would be why, by the way, if you follow any account dedicated to self-love for women. I talked about this on Instagram last week. Typically, the people posting them, as you can tell from the captions, are miserable. They're miserable. Every post is about being depressed or about being insecure.

Every post is about feeling suffocated or tired or sad or anxious. And every post blames these things on the patriarchy, on society, on capitalism, white supremacy, imperialism, et cetera. no, no, no. My response to that is, no, no, no, you people are miserable because your prescription for what ails you is making you sicker. As we have said on this podcast many times, the self cannot be both the problem and the solution. If the problem is the self, we need a solution other than the self. Depression and anxiety are very real things for many people. I've done an episode on this as well. I think it was titled Depression and Suicide,

a couple months ago. These are very real things for many people. We certainly shouldn't trivialize them or write them off as things that aren't real or have quick fixes for. But don't you think that maybe? Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political.

They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. we ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where

we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. If self-love were really the solution to these things, the people propagating self-love would feel better than they do? Like, don't you think so? Isn't it interesting that most of the people insisting that self-love and self-acceptance are the keys to happiness aren't happy and are trying to get other people to wallow in misery with them? Misery loves company.

This is true of this crowd obsessed with the self. Now, one note, I do think that self-awareness is good, knowing what talents God has given us are temptations that we have propensity toward, et cetera. I think knowing these things is important. If you think that you're an amazing singer but you can't carry a tune, it would be very detrimental to you and probably the people to the probably the people around you. If you try to pursue a career in singing, if that's just not a talent that God gave you, you need someone to tell you the truth. You need a little bit of self-awareness.

If you are going to spend all of your time doing something that's never going to add anything to the world, whereas a career utilizing your talents would. But here's the thing with self-awareness. When self-awareness, which is healthy, I believe, turns into self-obsession, which is unhealthy, self-understandy becomes a way to glorify ourselves rather than God. So I'll repeat that. When self-awareness, which is healthy, turns into self-obsession which is unhealthy, self-understanding becomes a way to glorify ourselves rather than God.

It is self- idolatry. It is a way to worship the God of self. And what does the very first of the Ten Commandments tell us? You shall have no other gods before me. We went off on that tangent for a couple reasons. One, as a way to explain that the knowledge of God, not sheer emotions about God, are necessary to knowing him, both accurately and intimately, because the heart is deceptive.

So following our emotions, even when we are studying the Bible, is going to lead to self-worship rather than God worship. and whether we are self-proclaimed Christians are not following our emotions in any scenario, rather than submitting our emotions to God, will lead to devastation, destruction, disappointment. And two, the second reason we went off of that tangent is to explain the nature of the heart, which is necessary to understanding the first misused verse we will be discussing today, which is Psalm 37 for, delight yourself in the Lord and he will. give you the desires of your heart. I love Psalm 37. I love this verse, but I love the whole chapter of

Psalm 37. I encourage you to read it today this week. If that's not a place where you've spent a whole lot of time, there are lots of parts in the Bible. I haven't spent a whole lot of time. And so if you haven't ventured over to Psalm 37, I recommend that you do. I had a ring in high school. It was an Icithus ring, you know, the Jesus fish. And on the inside, it had inscribed Psalm 37, one through seven. My sister-in-law and my brother actually gave that to me. I think it was for my 17th birthday, if I'm correct. Oh, maybe that's why they did 37, 1-3-7.

I just now thought of that, 1-7-17. I think that's what it is. But let me read those few verses for you because they have ended up being incredibly comforting and specifically applicable to almost every stage of my life, it feels like. It says verses 1 through 7, say, fret not yourself because of evil doers be not envious of wrongdoers for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb trust in the lord and do good dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart commit your way to the lord trust in him and he will act he will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day be still before the lord and wait patiently for him fret not yourself over the one who prospered

in his way over the man who carries out evil devices. These verses have proven to be, like I said, extremely comforting and reassuring to me in most seasons of my life as I am reminded of God's unchanging nature, his faithfulness to his children, his trustworthiness, his power, even when it seems like the world around me is falling apart. Most people, I would say, are unfamiliar with the verses surrounding verse 4, which is kind of crazy and I'll talk about why I think that is because the surrounding verses are beautiful. They are meaningful. They are fulfilling and comforting to read. And yet we know verse four much better

than we know the other verses. I'm sure that I was one of those people who may be misinterpreted this verse when I first got my ring in high school. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. How this verse is commonly read is that if we follow God, so if we say we believe in him. If we pray to him, if we go to church, if we read our Bible, he will give us what we want. So he will give us a husband if we're craving that. He will give us children if we're longing for that. He will give us a promotion if we're working towards that. He will give us success, popularity, happiness, healing, whatever we feel our soul is longing for. We are comfortable with this transaction because we like the idea of giving something to God and getting something tangible in

return, giving our time and belief to God and giving us some kind of material blessing in return, which is why I think verse four is far more popular than the other verses. The other verses are much harder to misinterpret. But when we hear the desires of our heart, it sounds like God is going to give us something that we see if we, you know, rub the genie in a bottle just the right way so that he will respond to our wishes. But if we think about this, just a lot of little bit. We start to see that that interpretation of that verse falls apart. The apostles have faith and church tradition holds that most of them were martyred, at least persecuted. Job had faith and all he had was taken from him. Some of the greatest most faithful missionaries throughout history were martyred.

Christians around the world today are being brutally persecuted, tortured, killed, imprisoned for their faith right now. Christians die every day of a cause. other than old age. Christians lose their jobs. They suffer. They're cheated. They are lied to. They're smeared. Does God not love those Christians? Are they not delighting in him enough? Is that why their life is hard? If they just believed a little bit harder, would God give them what they want? No, because Jesus never promises his followers in easy life. He promises persecution, not promotions. And while God may choose to bless us, materially, he may. He may choose to do that with a promotion or a husband or kids or a house or influence or success. And we should thank him for all of these things. But these are given to us

because he is gracious, not because we deserve them. Therefore, every gift we have is to be used in obedience to him for his glory. We are stewarding the things that belong to him that he has given to us for the time being. Everything the Christian has is gods. That's why we can rest assured that God's faithfulness is not dependent upon what we have. As Job says, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. As Paul says in Philippians 4, I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance.

I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. Then he says another optimist use verse that we will analyze on a later episode, I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Romans 835 through 38 says this. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else. In all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. I don't know about you, but distress and persecution and famine and danger are not the desires of my heart. They are not what I will sit here and tell you that I want. And yet the Bible says Christians can and will face these things. And in the midst of them, we are still resting within God's unconditional, unchanging love for us. So, knowing all of this, what does it mean for God to give us

the desire of our hearts? Well, let's look at that in context. At the book of Psalms, it's a a collection of praise, a petition, thinking God asking him for help, for guidance, for wisdom, praising him for his goodness, talking about his characteristics, talking about the righteousness of his law, the goodness of his law, the protection of his law. Most of the Psalms were written by David, who was known in Israel as an accomplished musician and songwriter. We read his reactions and his prayers to God as he is fleeing from the persecution of Saul, as he is seized by the Philistines as he declares victory over trans Jordan as he's wandering through the desert of Judah as well as various other events and stages in his life. According to my ESV study Bible,

the key themes in Psalms are in the book of Psalms are monotheism. So the emphasis on God being the one and only God, a creation and fall. We are made as image bearers of God and have all sin during need of God's grace. Election and covenant, God has chosen a people for himself and has bound himself to them in an everlasting covenant, covenant membership describing the salvation of God's people, its faithfulness to them, the suffering they will endure, and the hope that they have, eschatology, the anticipation of a future reality in which all Jews and Gentiles who trust in the Messiah will be united in their worship of the Savior. This particular Psalm, Psalm 37, is a Psalm of David. It is referred to as a wisdom Psalm. It follows a lot of themes that we see in

proverbs about the wisdom of waiting on the Lord, of staying close to the Lord, of following his way, of resisting the urge to be hasty even against our enemies. It is also an acrostic poem, which is interesting. So the first letter of the first word of every stanza begins with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The first verse in this chapter, fret not yourself because of evil doers is the theme of the chapter. This is what the entire passage is about. Why the people of God don't have to worry about those who do wrong, especially those who do wrong and prosper. David has looked around him in his life and he has seen the wicked seemingly get away with their wickedness.

But he is reminding himself and those who follow God that though justice seems to elude us, that God is not going to forsake us, that even though we can't see it right now, even though it doesn't feel like it, God has vengeance in store for those who do evil. Yes, God sees. Yes, God hears. Yes, God cares. Yes, God is going to do something about it. God is a God of justice.

This truth is exactly what comforts me when I look around at the world and feel, especially today, and feel that evil is winning, that darkness is taking over, that everything is backwards. God is just. The Bible says he will not be mocked. He will not let the wicked get away with their sin forever. One day, he will destroy evil once and for all. So within this context of trusting and the Lord's faithfulness and justice,

Let's look at verse four in the verses around it. Frette not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers. For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. This can also be translated as feed on faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as light and your justice is the noon day. This text is saying, even when it feels that the evildoers around you are winning, even when it seems hopeless, delight in, find joy in, derive your happiness from, cultivate peace in the Lord. The Hebrew word for desire in this verse is, I hope that I'm saying this right. Probably not. Any Jewish friends that might be listening to Theology Monday, welcome. Please tell me if I'm saying this incorrectly.

It's Mishallah. I think that's how you say it. That's the Hebrew word for desire in this verse. Mishallah, which can mean to petition or to request. So this verse could be phrased as, God will grant you the requests of your heart when you find your joy in him, even when calamity and injustice seems to be winning around you. So don't worry. Do not worry. Your petitions will be answered. Your desires will be fulfilled. Your needs will be met. How? Because as you delight in him, as you find your satisfaction in him, what your heart seeks will be that which.

he seeks. That doesn't mean that you won't want a husband or kids or whatever else you long for because you might. But if you are delighting in God, what you desire more than anything is his will, his glory, his justice and mercy and faithfulness to be made manifest in your life to be proclaimed to other people. And God may also grant us other things. But even if he does it, He promises to satisfy you with himself, no matter what you have or don't have. You will be cared for. You will be seen. You will be known.

You will be fought for. Your righteousness will be made known even when others slander you. Truth will be brought to light even while everyone around you is lying. Justice will be executed even when all you can see is corruption. Those of us who follow God can trust in that ultimate and eternal reality. I really want to read this whole chapter. I'm not going to because. it is pretty long, but here are some other verses.

Verses 10 through 13, and just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there, but the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves an abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord lasts at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. Versus 16 through 19, better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of mini-wicked, for the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the blameless and their heritage will remain forever.

They are not to be put to shame in evil times. In the days of famine, they have abundance. Versus 27 through 28, turn away from evil and do good. So you shall dwell forever. For the Lord loves justice. He will forsake his saints. Aren't these the true abiding deep desires in the hearts of those who love God? To be saved, to be ultimately and eternal.

eternally defended and protected against death and evil? God promises. He guarantees his children these things. He promises us his faithfulness and strength. He says to us over and over again in this passage, children, do not fret. Don't fret. Don't worry. Do not worry about the evil doer. I have a plan for him. He's got nothing on me. And in the meantime, I've got you. Do not fret. Isn't this the desire of our hearts, those of us who find our delight in the Lord? This reminds me of what Jesus tells us in Matthew 631 through 33. Therefore do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. How fitting that Jesus, the true and better, David has the same mess. for us generations later. God knows what you need. Seek him, pursue righteousness, and God will care for you. He longs to be gracious to you. That this reading of Psalm 374 is so much better, is so much longer lasting and richer than the reading of the verse that tells us this means God's going to give us a job promotion. How fleeting and unsatisfying is that compared to what it actually means that God's going to give us himself, his protection, his love, his strength, and that we have nothing to worry about. God the Father is so much better than God the genie.

Reading the Bible for what it means rather than what we want it to mean will be so much more satisfying. In the long run, maybe it temporarily doesn't tickle our ears, as the Bible says in another passage about false teaching. But it is so much. much more satisfying is it points us to the well that never runs dry in the bread of life that is Jesus. The truth that God has for us is always better than the so-called truth that we come up with. Why? Because while our hearts are desperately wicked, God is perfectly good. And while we can't follow our hearts because they're untrustworthy, we can follow God because he alone is worthy of our trust. That is what Psalm 374 tells us. Okay, that was

episode one of this series. I hope that you guys learned something from it. Let me know what you think. I look forward to seeing you back here on Wednesday. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort, we ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over

hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.