Delight In The Lord

I’ve found many things that give me delight in this world, but nothing has lasted like my relationship with Jesus. I am still learning how deep and how wide His love is for me and that He delights in teaching me. I should be delighted every time He disciplines me because in the end things always work out best if I get out of the way and let Him teach me to do it His way.

Psalms 37:4 NKJV

Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

We should not be worrying about how we will pay our bills or that we can’t have something our neighbors have. If we walk hand-in-hand with Jesus, we will find the proper desires of our heart. We will be content even when the world tells us we shouldn’t be. We have an eternal delight due to our relationship with Jesus and nothing should take that away. Nothing should diminish that relationship. I’ve stumbled on this a lot, but I have become even closer to Him.

When I follow advice that does not align with God’s Word, our manual for living a blessed life, things get messed up. I don’t have to wonder why I’m in a dark place or some rut. I can look back and see where I did not wait for God or I just said, “No,” like some stubborn two-year-old. He never wants to bring bad on us. To be honest, I think we bring most of it on ourselves. Anytime things get rough or even if we were bad, we can turn to God for help, accept any discipline He wants to give us so we learn, and then watch how it turns out for the better. I kept slogging through life without Him and His very useful discipline for too long, and definitely had no delight in life even if I had far more worldly possessions and advantages at the time.

Psalms 1:1-3 NLT

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers.

2 But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law.

3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.

I rather do it God’s way like this psalmist says we should. Then we can prosper in ways that boggle the ideas of the world. Some of God’s ways are counterintuitive to the way our Western culture has taught us. I’m glad I could get my analytical mind past that and give Jesus a chance. I’m not turning back now.

Psalms 40:8 NKJV

I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart."

Keep God’s Word close. Let Him reveal all that He has already engraved in our hearts, so that we may learn what a delightful person He is and show the world the truth. Grab onto the relationship with all you have and never let go. The journey may have trials and tribulations, but there will be great delight as you see God working in your life and the world.

Where are you putting your desires today? If not in a full relationship with Jesus, I urge you to take a closer look and examine what His Word is really telling us about Him and how to live with Him. Every other delight is temporal and will disappear, possibly as fast as the flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow.