DELIGHT IN…COMMIT…WAY UNTO THE LORD

There is a discernible development in the commands in this psalm: fret not, trust, delight, commit, and rest. The person that forbears fretting and replaces it with trust will inevitably go on to delight in the Lord. In order to delight in Him it is necessary to know Him in Person; to be comfortable in His presence; to enjoy speaking to Him; and to listen to Him as He speaks through the word or in our times of prayer and meditation. To delight is to ‘luxuriate’. It is something very special. It is a feeling of being with a special Person, in a special place and surrounded by special things. It is to thoroughly enjoy oneself. The psalmist tells us that we should delight in His word, 1. 2; His peace, 37. 11; His will, 40. 8; and, in Psalm 119, His testimonies and commandments. Best of all is to delight in Him.

The promise attached to this command is that He will give us the desires of our hearts. Of course, this is not just any desire that would please the flesh but those which would be in keeping with divine purpose. If we delight in Him we will want to delight Him and therefore we would ask only those things that are appropriate and would progress His plans.

The next step is to commit our way unto Him. That may have to do with guidance and direction which we desperately need and which we ought to seek before embarking on any venture. However, the basic meaning of the word ‘commit’ is to ‘roll’, that is, to roll the burden or fear upon Him. We might remember the advice of Peter who had personal experience of its effectiveness, ‘Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you’, 1 Pet. 5. 7. So, we should not try to carry nor to lift the burden ourselves but just roll it gently upon the Lord. It has been said that ‘a burden shared is a burden halved’. But one rolled upon the Lord completely relieves the burdened soul.

What is the result of so doing? ‘He will bring it to pass’. The idea is that He will work on it. The burden will instantly be gone from our shoulders but the final resolution of the problem may yet take some time. We should be content to leave it with Him aware that in His own time, the best time, all will come right. So, let us delight and let us commit! Then, we may rest.