“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart” ~Psalm 37:4. The word delight means to take pleasure in someone or something; it is your source of happiness. To take delight in the Lord would mean He is your source of happiness and joy, you take pleasure in Him. To desire something would incline that you want something, it is a feeling of an unsatisfied state. Every one of us has desires, what are your desires? This verse is a promise from God and stated as fact by Kind David who had received the desires of his heart. The desire of King David’s heart was the Lord! There are many promises made in the word of God and God who cannot lie is truthful in all the promises He makes. Yesterday I read a prayer request from a women who is obviously hurting, she is evidently going through some major tribulation in her life, but as she is going through this tribulation her faith in God is wavering, not only that, she blames God for what she is going through stating why is God putting me through this. My heart goes out to her and I know that she is hurting, I have prayed for her. She like so many other people are doing and have done; are losing faith in their God, but while they are losing faith in their God, I fear that their God isn’t The God, The God of the bible. I would like to talk today about God’s promises.
What has God promised believers?
1. Temptation: We as believers are all promised temptation! In explaining the parable of the Sower and the seed Jesus explains that those who have a shallow faith when they are tempted will fall away. “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” ~Luke 8:13. But as a believer we hold on to God through every temptation if your delight is in the Lord He Shall give you the desires of your heart. “No temptation has ever taken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” ~1 Corinthians 10:13. Is there a way out? Through God always, the question is who do you love more God or the pleasures of sin?
2. Tribulation or Trials: We as believers are promised many trials! “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” ~John 16:33. Jesus talked about people without root in Him He said: “yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles” ~Matthew 13:21.
3. Persecution: We as believers are promised persecution for our faith! Most of the epistles of the Apostles where written in one way or another to God’s people who were being persecuted with encouragement to help them endure. This is the promise as Paul wrote to Timothy. “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” ~2 Timothy 3:12.
Now how does that sound? Does it sound like something you might want to sign up for? The problem isn’t God, the problem is us. People are being told come to God for love, joy, peace, and fulfillment; while those are fruits of salvation they are not the reason to come to God. If you come to God expecting love, joy, peace, and fulfillment but all you get is temptation, tribulation, and persecution you will soon be diluted, angry, and better and rightly so you didn’t get what you were promised but you did get what God promised. Well then you say why should I come to God if what I get is temptation, tribulation, and persecution? Jesus didn’t come to give you a happy life, He came to save you from the wrath of God, yeah that’s right the wrath of God himself. We are sinners, we have broken God’s laws and He is angry about that, so angry He demands punishment for our crimes and that punishment is death in Hell. You don’t think you have broken His laws then carefully look at his commandments. Have you ever lied? The ninth commandment says “you shall not lie”. The bible says “all liars their part is in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death” ~Revelations 21:8, and that is just one of his commands with many more to Go. God does love us all and while He demands punishment He is also merciful, instead of pouring his wrath out on you and I He poured it out on His sinless Son Jesus instead and offers us instead of the death we deserve eternal life as a free gift and all He asks is that we believe and place our faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. What better offer is there than that? We deserve death in Hell but instead get eternal life with God in paradise! That is the source of the fruit. You’re filled with joy because you get to go to heaven, you’re at peace because your sins are forgiven, and you know you are loved because He died for you, you are fulfilled because your desires are God and He gave you Himself! My hope and my prayer for you all is that you will trust yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ not for the things of this world but to escape the wrath that is to come!
Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation,
Mike Peek
