I saw an add for Christian Mingle online today and it had the following verse quoted above a very happy looking couple.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
The dating service evidently feels this verse in some way applies to finding a man or woman that will make you happy. Evidently, they think they can play a role in helping you find the one - assuming you are delighting yourself in the Lord of course!
A closer look at the context of the passage reveals it is dealing with the short term success of the wicked and their final destuction, contrasted with the ultimaite eternal deliverance of those who trust in the Lord!
Psalm 37: 1 Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the LORD,
They shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
It would seem that rather than fretting over our lack of a mate, we should do as we find in this passage: not fret, nor be envious, trust in the LORD, do good, feed on His faithfulness, commit your way to the LORD, rest in the LORD, wait patiently for Him, cease from anger!
These are just a sampling of what the verse shows we should do while we wait for the Lord to do the thing the verse is actually about - the defeat of His enemies and deliverance of His people - resulting in contentment now, because of our eternal life in Him!
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Wow, it sounds like we should not only delight ourselves in the Lord, but also He, His righteousness, and His eternal kingdom should be the main desires of our hearts now!
Dating services may be OK, but it is no small thing to use a verse out of context to promote a business and miss or even mislead regarding the incredibly important truth this passage was intended to convey!
"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Just one more example of what natural man will do to pervert and twist Allmighty God's Words for ill gain. 2 COR. 2:17 and 4:2 speak on it. Thanks be to God through Christ that His Spirit leads us into all truth, and enables us to discern and see the total folly of things such as this. God is not here to ensure I have a hot wife. He is here to recieve all glory, which is His just due!!! tj
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