God's Delight

"He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me." Psalm 18:19

To delight means to experience a high degree of pleasure, enjoyment, joy, rapture, or excitement in something in someone.   We delight in many things of this life. We delight in success, romance, adventures, money, fame, and many other things.  Many Christians would claim that they delight themselves in God only to claim the promise of Psalm 37, "and he will give you the desires of your heart." Yet, the question begs to be asked, is the Lord truly delighting in you and I? It’s easy for us to say that we delight ourselves in God, but it's another story to say with assurance that He delights in us. Feeling his presence sporadically or attending church once in a while does not denote his delight in us.  In the above scriptures, the Psalmist David was bold and confident when he said that the Lord delighted in him.  How does one get to this point of pleasing God so much that He enjoys, takes pleasure, and excites himself in our person, and even our presence? For certainty, God does not need us. Yet, he chooses to delight in us.  In Psalm 18, after making the statement that God delighted in him, David gives us two main reasons for making such a claim:

 "For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me" (Psalm 18:21)

“The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me... I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity... Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according being pleasing to God:to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight” (Psalm 18:20, 23-24).

Through these scriptures, we note the following about being the delight of God:

1) God delights in us when we delight in His Word and keep His commandments.

First of all, for God to find pleasure in us, we must delight ourselves and love his Word.  In the verses above, we see that David credited the fact that God delighted in him with him keeping God's commandments. This is also emphasized in the first chapter of Psalms when David says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night."  Do we take pleasure in God's Word?  Do we feast on it daily? Do we think on it all the day long? David was one of the greatest examples in the Old Testament of a person who truly loved the Law of the Lord. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119 (penned by David of course) and it shows David's reverence and love for the Word of God as well.  He says, "My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments (commandments) at all times."  David longed to follow God's word.  Even though he was imperfect, he knew that the laws of God would bring correction and healing to his life, "How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to they word" (Psalm 119:9).

2) God delights in us when we keep ourselves pure and blameless in His sight. 

Next, David notes his righteousness and blamelessness before God.   David was a man after God's own heart. He set his heart on pleasing God in every way and being holy or blameless before God.  He wasn't perfect.  After all, he did commit adultery and have a man murdered.  One would think David would be the last person God would delight in.  Yet, David always humbled himself before God and got himself back on track through repentance. For that reason, God delighted in him.  The same goes for us.  I'm not perfect, you're not perfect.  For God to delight in us does not mean that we have to be perfect, but we do have to acknowledge our failures before God and ask his forgiveness each day.  We fall over and over again, but it is our humility and ability to cry out to God that will bring us back into relationship with God and cause us to be his delight. When we have a heart to please God, He will see us through our failures because he delights in us, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand" ( Psalm 37:23).   This does not give us the license to sin, but it does mean that when we do sin, we have an advocate on our side who is Jesus Christ.

Another scripture comes to mind when I think about pleasing God:

 "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). 

3) God delights in us when we spend time in His presence.

Using a different scriptural context, we can also see from Psalm 27, that God wants our time. In the world we live in today, there are so many distractions that beg for our attention. Yet in the midst of all that, God must be our priority. Seeking his presence daily is a must, a non-negotiable. David understood the necessity to be close to his Maker. His love for God demanded it. When it comes to our prayer life, I believe the best time to spend with God is early in the morning before the events of the day.  Someone once said, we should tithe our first hours to God, a sacrifice that reaps great spiritual blessings. I like that idea.  I understand that everyone's schedule is so uniquely different, but if at all possible, this is the ideal standard. I have had my quiet time and devotion with God after work, but by then, I have given all my energy to my students so there is little left for God but a tired, worn-out school teacher at times. lol.   I want him to have the first of my heart.   He deserves no less. I don't speak this as one that has attained  or as one that has this perfect walk with God, I speak as one that is hungry for a more spirit-filled life. I'm pressing forward just like everyone else.

The last scripture I would like to use deals with holding on to God even when others are against us:

"He [Jesus] trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him"(Psalm 22:8).

4) God delights in us when we endure persecution.

Using a third scriptural context, we see that God delights in us when we stand tall in the face of persecution. In the Psalm 22, David prophesied the humiliation and persecution of the messiah, Jesus Christ. He described the mockery and scorning Jesus would face and how they would taunt him saying that if he was truly God’s delight, why didn't God save him. Jesus was God’s delight because he refused to let the cup of persecution pass from him. He was the delight of God because he endured even to the death at the cross for which reason, God exalted him and gave him a name that was above every name (Philippians 2:8).  When we endure persecution and rejection for Christ's sake, we become the delight of God.  Persecution does not feel good when it is happening, but like Jesus, we can look to the joy that is set before us and endure just as he did. Maybe your friends make fun of you because you live differently and stand up for what is right.  Maybe your spouse left you because you decided to follow God. Maybe your family has disowned you because of your new lifestyle. Maybe you are tempted each day by those who want to see you fall. Know that God is delighting in you in your circumstances because it shows that you love him more than this world. His reward is with him when he comes back if you will just hold on.

In conclusion, I pray that you will find yourself the object of God's delight.  If you are reading this, then I know you must have a desire deep within you to please God.  If so, you are on the right path. Let's press forward together to be what God wants us to be in Jesus Name.