DELIGHT
“He brought me forth also into a
large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.” Psalm 18:19
God’s
favourite place is with me. He actually
wants to be with me and to have a relationship with me: not only as my Saviour,
but also as my friend. God delights in
me! How amazing! What must that mean?
Psalm
139:17, 18 tells us that we could not begin to count the amount of times God
thinks of us. “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum
of them! If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand…”
God’s
thoughts are precious thoughts of good toward me. “For I
know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace,
and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11 He wants to me to happy and blessed. He wants my attention and seeks to get it by
His care of me.
Why
would God delight in me? I have nothing
to offer him but what he has already given me.
My gifts and talents are from Him.
They are gifts of His love and enabling for me to use in His
service. I am just flesh and bones
without His invested interest; yet, His Word says that He does delight in
me. He paid a great price for me: the
life of His only Son. I am His creation,
loved, chosen, and precious to Him, indeed…delightful to Him.
Like
a “mutual admiration society” my reaction to God’s attention should be
reciprocal. God and I valuing each other - interested and involved with each
other. From there we can form a loving
and delightful relationship. How
delightful!
Are
you in love with the Lover of your soul?
Do you delight in His gifts of love?
Do you delight in Him? Meditate
on the thought: God’s favourite place is
with me.
DELIGHT
“Delight
thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the
desire of thine heart.” Psalm 37:4
This
verse is a promise from God’s Word. If
we delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts. It is that simple. The secret is in understanding the meaning
and outworking of this word, “delight.” To
delight, on the one hand, means to please another greatly. On the other hand, it means to take great
pleasure in something or someone. If I
delight in something I will also be delightful to that person or object. I will be giving delight and I will receive
delight.
Biblical
delighting comes from a heart attitude.
Romans 7:22 says, “For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man.”
God’s Word is my source of strength and joy. It is amazing and captivating. With my heart set on His Word it produces an
action. Psalm 1:2 says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and
in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
I will think about God’s Word.
It will be the basis for my thought life and for my decisions.
Meditation
will lead to a request. Psalm 119:35, “Make me to go in the path of thy
commandments; for therein do I delight.”
The Psalmist knew that with his own individual determination he was
still vulnerable to failure. He could
fall away, so he needed to lean wholly upon the Lord for maintenance of his
request and choice.
And
finally, delight demands a choice; a choice to obey. Psalm 119:16, “I will delight myself in thy statues; I will not forget thy word.” Our
desire will be to please Him and to stay in the path of blessing. We will be consciously and solidly yielding
our spirit and will to Him.
Casting
my whole delight upon the Lord is pleasing unto him. Psalm 84:11 says, “…no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” If we are delighting wholly in Him, He
will honour His Word. That is His
promise to me.
Where
do you stand? Are you living in a
position to claim this promise?
DELIGHT
“Thy testimonies also are my
delight and my counsellors.” Psalm
119:24
Since
God is a spirit we naturally cannot see Him physically. Yet He is revealed as we worship in spirit
and in truth. We can come to know Him by
what we see in His handiwork of creation and by the work of the Spirit in our
lives. But best of all, we can see Him
by His revelation within the written Word.
This is the understanding of the Psalmist. The law was his delight and instructor. It revealed what God had planned and it
showed God’s love.
The
truth of God’s Word is illuminated to our hearts as we meditate upon it. Psalm 119 teaches that God’s Word brings
delight as it cleanses us (v. 9), keeps us from sin (v.10), corrects us (v.
59), gives us direction (vs. 105, 130) and gives us peace and confidence (vs.
80, 165). Time spent meditating upon the
Word makes the Word richer and more alive to our hearts and prepares us to face
the temptations and trials of life with a renewed zeal and positive confidence.
Many
times I find my heart and mind racing to keep up with all the concerns of this
life. It can be overwhelming, but
because I have His Word to be the eye of my storm, the peaceful centre from
which my world spins, I can use the Word to counsel me and bring me delight. Psalm 94:19 is a little verse that reminds me
where my thought should be…”In the
multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”
God
knows that my mind whirls. He knows
every thought I think and every decision I will make based on these
thoughts. He made me that way, so he
seeks to comfort and direct me by placing within me the capability of
remembering His Word and gives me His Spirit to remind and call to use His Word
during those times when my minds whirls almost out of control!
God’s
Word truly is delightful, full of good counsel, and comfort to our storm-driven
lives. Is God’s Word the director of
your life?
DELIGHT
“I delight to do thy will, O my
God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40:8
I
read once that we are known by seven factors.
These factors point to our heart’s desire and delight.
- What we want most.
- What we think about most.
- How we use our money.
- What we do with our leisure time.
- The company we enjoy.
- Who and what we admire.
- What we laugh at.
Our
obedience to God in these seven factors exposes the truth about our source of
delight.
- What should we want most? Matthew 6:33 “but
seek ye first the kingdom of God…”
- What should we think about
most? Phil. 4:8 “whatsoever
things are honest…just…lovely…think on these…”
- How are we to use our money? I Tim 6:6-10 “be
content…the love of money is the root of all evil.”
- What are we to do with our leisure
time? Eph 5:15, 16 “…walk…as
wise…redeeming the time..”
- What company are we to enjoy? Prov. 27:17 “a
man sharpeneth…his friend.”
- Who and what are we to
admire? Phil 3:7, 8 “…the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord…”
- What are we to laugh at? Eph 5:3, 4 “uncleanness…let it not
be…named among you…”
It is taught that our actions proceed from
what we are thinking. If our inner
thoughts and attitudes match God’s Word, we will delight in Him and be
delightful to Him. Further, it will
produce a life obedient to His Word; a life that delights to do God’s will. Is
God’s law within your heart? How would
you be defined by these seven factors?
DELIGHT
“Unless
thy law had been my delights,
I
should have perished in mine affliction.”
Psalm 119:92
There is a song that asks the question, “Where
do I go when my foundations crumble?
Where do I go when my footsteps stumble?
Where do I go when there’s no one else who’ll listen?” The answer comes, “I go to the Rock of my
salvation, go to the Stone that the builders rejected, so to the Mountain and
the Mountain comes to me…”.
A song, but a truth; when we are in hot water,
when things get confusing, we go to the thing that makes us feel better. Where do you go? Shopping?
Eating? Bed? Watch out!
Your delight is in the wrong place.
An amazing little insight in Hosea 7:14 reveals God’s outlook toward
those who run to the wrong place. It
says, “ …and they have not cried unto me
with their heart, when they howled upon their beds…” Howling in bed because of trouble does not
bring relief or answers.
I need to go to the right source: to God’s
Word, to my Father who delights to bless.
I need to cast my care upon Him, for He cares for me. I Peter 7:5
I can go to him for wisdom James
1:5, for comfort II Cor 1:3,4, for
healing Psalm 147:3, for
understanding Psalm 139:1-6, and even
for complaining Psalm 142:1-3. Psalm 102
bears the title; “The prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and
poureth out his complain before the Lord”.
I do not have to perish in my
afflictions. I have God’s Word for
strength. God’s Word is backed up by the
everlasting arms that will bear my soul to a place of comfort; a place of
delight. “Call unto me and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty
things, which thou knowest not.”
Jeremiah 33:3 God delights to answer when we call.
So where do you go when faced with
affliction? To bed? To the mall?
Can you honestly say God’s Word is your source and delight?
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