Delight
The Beaver Moon
The week after Thanksgiving wasn’t particularly cold in North Texas, although it can be. The evenings were cool and the mornings crisp and the moon was full.
The full moon in November is named the Beaver Moon after the furry creatures who work through the night building dams in advance of winter. I didn’t know this until later—after I stepped onto the patio to sit in my chair beside the fire.
When I rounded the corner of the house, the beauty of the moon froze me in my tracks. The frame of pecan branches formed by next-door-Mary’s tree was symmetrically perfect—like someone from the frame shop possessing a good eye assembled the display for just my occasion.
A puff of air escaped through my open mouth, the sort of awe that comes over me when I stand before the paintings by Sargent hanging at my brother’s museum, or the Homer (print) hanging over my work desk, or a landscape by Wyeth. In real words, not thought ones, I said, “Older Brother, that is wonderful work. Nicely done!”
Using my phone’s camera, I took the picture attached to this article. I don’t figure Ansel Adams is feeling any particular threat from my image, but I didn’t take the picture to make a statement. I took the picture to commemorate a moment I took delight in—for the same reason you take pictures of your kids and grandkids and show them later. “Hey, I’ve got something you need to see,” as you pull your phone from your pocket and call them to your side. In so many words, you’re saying, “I delight in you. Let me show you.”
Delight: a high degree of pleasure or joy, the dictionary states.
Her eyes danced with delight.
That evening, on my patio, periodically I left my dancing fire to espy again the glowing orb through Mary’s pecan tree and take delight, and say again, “Nicely done, Brother. Beautiful work.”
The Bible opens with one of the greatest lines in literature: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Over a thousand pages later, the Book elaborates: “For by Him [Jesus] all things were created” (Col. 1:16).
Even though I understand little about the Trinity’s division of labor, I delighted myself in the Beaver Moon suspended in the pecan tree, and taking Scripture literally, assumed Jesus placed it there and superintends its orbit. The next verse in Colossians explains, “He [Jesus] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
I appreciate His effort. The Beaver Moon brought me delight, and so, I told Him exactly that and clicked a photo to back up my words and commemorate my pleasure.
In these opening paragraphs, I’m describing how I took delight. But in taking delight, I produce delight in the One who initiated. “Of more delight than hawks and horses be,” wrote Shakespeare.
“Delight yourself in the Lord,” our Psalm says (37:4). On the one hand, the question is how to do this; what does “delight yourself” mean? But the following question is even more important: Why? Why are you being told this activity is important?
And the answer is, because delighting in the Lord brings both Him and you pleasure.
The Celts called it the Darkest Depths of Moon.
Yesterday, Dianne and I ran errands together. While she finished getting ready, I backed the car out of the garage—which means I watched her as she crossed the patio, walked in front of the car, and got in on the passenger side. As I watched her, my brown-eyed girl brought me delight. I smiled, and admired her—and when she closed the door, I said, “You know, Dianne. You are a beautiful woman.” She lit up, and as she smiled, her cheeks rose, and her eyes danced with delight.
“Delight yourself in the Lord”—and by implication, bring delight to the Lord by your delighting.
Not only is November’s full moon deemed the Beaver Moon, the Celts called it the Darkest Depths of Moon.
The passage we are considering—Psalm 37:3-5—is surrounded by enemies and intrigue and worry. The Psalm opens, “Fret not yourself.” Then it proceeds to name a litany of evils, wrongs, oppressions, transgressions, and wickedness. But only three verses in, as we have studied earlier, our passage tells us to, “Trust in the Lord.”
Without duress, faith seems reasonable. But resolute faith during duress is what the Bible identifies as trust, i.e., faith that appears unreasonable. Our passage is challenging because of the dark depths that surround it and the trust this necessitates.
It’s like spitting in the eye of the tiger.
“Delight yourself in the Lord,” David writes—and not just in poetry. He also scores his lyrics with music intended to be sung by a choir.
I’m fascinated how frequently I find myself singing phrases of songs—a hodgepodge medley of mine strung together when my soul is laboring against an enemy from the darkest depths. “Be Thou my vision, oh Father of light. / I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses. / Stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down. / On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand. / Be Thou my vision.” The melodies and chants resolve my soul in the darkest depths—and this brings me delight, like spitting in the eye of the tiger.
Grammatically, “delight yourself” is an imperative mood, meaning: Psalm 37:4 is advising an action that must be taken with deliberation, intent, and dedication if you are to realize your wellbeing while in the midst of dark depths.
“Delight” appears just-over a hundred times in the Bible, but the particular word translated “delight” in Psalm 37 only occurs in this psalm—and only twice, in verses 4 and 11. The grammar indicates that delighting is an essential choice you make to take pleasure in your heavenly Father even though in the darkest depths while surrounded by wickedness. Once decided and acted upon, then the verse proceeds to say, “And He [the Lord] will give you the desires of your heart.”
Father God takes delight in your determined decision to delight in Him even though enmeshed in wickedness and ensconced in the darkest depths.
But note again: Delight is reciprocal. Delighting in the Lord brings confidence and composure to you while circumstantially you should fret and fear. Your delight then, brings Him delight—and the relational reinforcement cycles again, then again.
It would be nice if Psalm 37 conveyed circumstantial deliverance, but it doesn’t—at least, not consistently. David leaves room for deliverance from the enemies he identifies, but he also leaves room to delight in the assurance of heaven as his true home and earth as a transient traverse through irregular people and dark depths. In either case—deliverance or demise—our psalm isolates rest, trust, justice, abundance, blessing, establishment, and exaltation for those delighting in the Lord.
Psalm 37:4 is composed on two different lines separated by a semi-colon:
“Delight yourself in the Lord; / And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
The first line describes an essential action you take, but it does not convey either duration or completion. The second line is a promise—“And He will”—that results from the first line’s determined delight.
My soul descended into the darkest depths.
In between the two lines of verse 4, conveyed by the semi-colon and the separate lines of lyrics, there is a span of trust.
A couple of nights ago, I stepped into my neighborhood to walk and contemplate. Darkness had invaded my soul and the depths were unnerving me.
The Lifetime Ministries Board of Directors met earlier. During my update on the state of the ministry, I had to report on the crippling effects of being censored by the social media companies and three-letter agencies in DC. The report had to be given, but in describing the darkness of degraded policies, my soul descended into the darkest depths.
For several days, in order to prepare my report to the Board, I had to assess the damages to donations, sales, and ministry distribution. Then, in the presence of my colleagues and superiors, I had to talk my way through the darkness. As a leader must do, I reassured the Board with the truth: Lifetime-PHG belongs to God, and in the end, God will do what is good and just. Meanwhile, we trust Him.
This reassurance was not a platitude. It is my conviction, but just because it is—and was—my conviction, it didn’t arrest my descent into the depths. After a few hours contemplating the darkness of attack on Lifetime-PHG, I was surrounded by the enemies listed in our psalm.
I hate my tenuous trust.
After the Board departed, I stepped out to walk. It took several blocks before I finished summarizing my complaint to God about my concerns. Finally, on the sidewalk alongside Tommy and Jan’s house, I said, “So, Father, there’s no way out. Where does this leave me—where does it leave the ministry?”
In my thoughts, I heard Father reply: “Son, I’ve got you. Will you trust me?”
I walked, and eventually said, “I know the right answer, Papa. But I’m not sure I can give it truthfully. I want it to be my conviction. I want to trust you, but jeepers. It’s tough to sell books when I can’t trend in the marketplace.”
Then the thought: “Look back over the last twenty-five years, son.” (This covers the time span from my transition leading Lifetime to Lifetime Ministries returning to my care. These decades and years are dynamic in my life because of the way God has cared for Dianne and me.) “I told you then I would take care of you. Have I?”
“Yes, Father. You have.” I pondered further as I walked. “You’ve not missed a moment.” I paused to reflect. Then, “Gosh, Papa! I hate my tenuous trust. Please help my unbelief.”
“I hate my tenuous trust.” That was the moment I chose delighting in the Lord.
But look back at the formatting of this article. For the last eleven paragraphs I’ve described the time lapse while I labored to trust. This labor is conveyed by the semi-colon and separate lines composing verse 4.
Delighting in the Lord and determined trust—even a wrestling-writhing trust—go hand-in-hand. This must be the case and cannot be otherwise if we hope to adequately grasp the next “d” word in the verse: “desires.”
For all the consternation following the semi-colon, delight and desire are integrally intertwined.
“Delight yourself in the Lord; / And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
What exactly are your heart’s desires and why are they only revealed and realized by delight?
Note: Don’t forget the podcasts with Tony, Frank, and me at VineLife.us. Also, there is the three-part documentary with Rick Fry about my book, Rigorous Grace. You can view that here.
Finally, I would be honored to have you join the Lifetime-PHG financial support team. You can do that via this link. Given our organizational structure, about $.97 of your $1 goes directly to ministry initiatives.