Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
(Psalm 37:3-6)
I have been meditating on what it means to delight in the Lord. The call that the Psalmist gives here is key to living the way God desires.
To delight in the Lord means to love the things he loves, to desire the things he desires, to be enamored with knowing him more. It means we look at the Savior and see him as glorious, as someone that we desire to be close to. It means that we seek any means possible to get to know him better. It means that when we realize that other priorities in our lives are crowding him out, we repent of them and turn to him.
To delight in the Lord means to trust him, to take him at his word. When he says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” he means just that. He doesn’t qualify that statement with saying “I will be with you as long as you follow me.” There is tremendous delight in having the confidence that his love for us is not dependent upon us.
When we delight in him we will act the way he wants us to. That is the natural response to his goodness, his love for us.
The basis for our delight is the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. Throughout the Old Testament we read much about fearing God. When we consider our sin, to approach God is a fearful thing. I think of the response of Isaiah when he saw the holiness of God. He responded in abject fear, saying, “Woe is me.” It is truly only through the death of Christ on our behalf that we can have any other response to the holy God than Isaiah’s. We have had our sins paid for, our destinies changed, our inner man transformed by the the work on Calvary. This is greater delight than we can ever hope for.
When we consider the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus, then we can begin to delight in God. Meditate on him, delight yourself in his word, enjoy his presence.
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2 comments:
Isn't the delight of the Lord a most wonderful gift...i say gift as opposed to some mustered belief (ie a belief that one tells oneself over and over again until one believes it)....to be delighted with Him is to understand and know the delight He has in me. It is like having a Delightful party in which i am not only delightful to Him and He to me but it becomes no longer Him and me but ....us. I am an us. No longer my own agent no longer independent, i have become hopelessly linked bonded and identified with Someone else and that Someone else to me. We have become an "item". I am an item. Yes, i am having an affair. I have said it. I am out of the closet. Let it be proclaimed to the nations. I am captured and held captivated in Him. Oh Thou desire of my heart. You who desires me and i thee. Let your Name be great. Let it be exalted among the nations.
Yes Joe, it is a wonderful gift. May we continue to love Jesus Christ above all things.
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