Psalm 37 - "You Are My Hiding Place"

The Lord took me to Psalm 37 this morning. As I was reading this Psalm I wondered what He had for me through it. It talks a lot about evil but it also gives us direction on how we, as believers are to live. There are four commands in verses three through seven.

1. Trust in the Lord and do good (verse 3)
2. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (verse 4)
3. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. (verse 5-6)
4. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; (verse 7a)

As I read these commands, I am blessed in knowing I follow them. Verse four that talks about delighting in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart is one that I struggle with from time to time. It's not that I struggle with delighting in Him because I see it a privilege to delight in the Lord. When I think about all of the disappointing times with not getting to see my babies and their babies, I ask the Lord "Why?" often. I see other families who get together regularly and I am sad with our situation. There are too many miles in between, too many schedules to work around, health issues...the list of reasons goes on and on. So if the desire of my heart is to be with my family and I am following the Lord why are the times so few and far between? What am I doing wrong?

Matthew Henry writes about these verses:
"He has not promised to gratify the appetites of the body, and the humours of the fancy, but the desires of the renewed, sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and serve God. Commit thy way unto the Lord; roll thy way upon the Lord, so the margin reads it. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, the burden of thy care. We must roll it off ourselves, not afflict and perplex ourselves with thoughts about future events, but refer them to God. By prayer spread thy case and all thy cares before the Lord, and trust in him. We must do our duty, and then leave the event with God. The promise is very sweet: He shall bring that to pass, whatever it is, which thou has committed to him."

There's my answer...commit my family to Him. But I have already done that. I gave them to Him a long time ago. I guess that is why I had time with Ben and his family yesterday. Before going on our trip I prayed for the Lord to give me some "Grandma Time" but it didn't happen. After returning home I prayed for the same thing. Yesterday that prayer was answered with four of my five grand babies. I am grateful for that time. I just need to keep praying for the desires of my heart to be with my family. 

Dear Jesus,
I praise You for loving me! I praise You for giving me the desires of my heart with Ben and his family yesterday. I pray the same with Paul and his family. I pray You will open up calendars so we can spend time with them. Lord, I also pray for those who don't have family close enough to visit or perhaps have no family at all. Put people in their lives who will become surrogate family to them. Lord, I pray for Ruth who is going to see her brother in the hospital today. I pray for safe travel mercies for her and her family. I also pray for Your will in his life as his days seem to be coming to an end on this earth. I praise You, Father, for the good news yesterday in the Hicks/Giles family. Lord, continue to be so very close to them as they go through so much. Lord, would You continue to open my eyes up on how I can be more obedient to You? Would You fill me with more of You and less of me so I can be more effective for You? Thank You Jesus for being My Delight! Amen.