WORD STUDY – DELIGHTING IN GOD

Psalm 37:3-4 “Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and cherish faithfulness.  So shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

“Dwell in the land…”   Does that not go without question?  I mean we are not fish so we can not dwell in the sea,  we are not birds so we can not dwell in the sky and we are not stars so we can not dwell in space.  Where else will we dwell.  Dwell here is in a qal imperative form. An imperative is a command, I mean that is one command we have no choice but to obey. If the writer meant a specific place he would have used the word esach  instead he uses ‘eres which means the world, the earth, or the ground.  Why state something so obvious.  Poetry to be sure, but also this a hint that there is something deeper.

Trust in the Lord.  The word trust is betach which is the same word used in Proverbs 3:5 which means to adhere or to use a modern term to weld yourself to the Lord.  “Do good…”  the word for good is tov which means to be in harmony with God.  Then we are to dwell in the earth.  As indicated, unless you are an astronaut, you pretty much have that command sewed up.  However, the word dwell is not yashav which you would expect and means to inhabit, but it is the word shacan which means to rest, be at peace with.  

When you weld yourself to God and live in harmony with Him, you really don’t feel like you are a part of this old world. You just don’t feel at home.  As the song writer said: “Turn you eyes upon Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of  His glory and grace.”   Yet, as the Apostle Paul said, we are ambassadors in this world and an ambassador must live in peace in the country he serves.  Jesus said: “My peace I give unto you, not that the world gives.”

So how do we find peace in this world that is not our home?  The answer is in the word we render as dwell which is shacan.  We find  the word is spelled Shin which is used for  joy and peace./  The next letter is the  Kap which is a vessel that needs to be filled and the last letter is a final Nun  which shows us a revelation of the light (I call that light Jesus). I know, I am one of those crazy gentiles that find Jesus all over the Old Testament which is enough to drive any rabbi to throw salt in the air.

Next we are told to cherish faithfulness.  The sages interpret this as to remain loyal.  The word cherish is re’eh which literally means to feed, to nurture, or to shepherd and take pleasure in.   We are to feed on, nurture, tend, care for and take pleasure in faithfulness.    The word faithfulness comes from the root amen and we know what amen means which is to be  in total agreement with God. It is a picture of  a husband and wife who nurture their oneness and agreement both emotionally and physically.

When this is done then we will delight ourselves in the Lord.  The word for delight here is ’anag. It is in a Hithpael form which makes it reflexive.  It means to be delicate, as well as to take pleasure in.   It is a romantic word.  As a lover takes pleasure in gently caressing his love, speaking gentle, loving words to her.  Sharing an intimacy with her that no one else can share, an intimacy that is special only to her and no one else.  

Get the picture why adultery is such an abomination to God, why it was a capital crime under Hebrew law, why the enemy wants to pervert the relationship between a man and woman?  The earthly relationship between a man and woman was to reflect the sacred, special and unique love relationship that we have with God.  A relationship that God wants only to share with us, you as an individual and no one else.  When we seek other gods we pervert this relationship as one would when seeking other lovers.  It also leaves that betrayed lover with  a deep broken heart.  Have you ever considered the fact that when you seek other gods (relationships, money, earthly pleasures) we are breaking God’s heart?

Then when two lovers are intimate, gently caressing, speaking loving, passion filled words of complete loyalty to each other and oneness, whatever that beloved desires, his or her lover will grant it if it is within his or her ability.   So too, will our heavenly husband/wife (yes, the Sages teach a feminine side to God), grant our every desire of our heart.  But of course, if you have given your heart totally to Him, in such a moment your only desire is to be even closer to Him.