delightful

Do you know what delights your spouse? Do you know what delights you? Do you know what delights God?

These are very good question to ask. Funny, I have been married to my darling husband for thirty years this coming August and I had never stopped to ask him this question until a few days ago! How could I have been married to him for SO long and never asked this question? I just assumed I knew but...

I was so surprised by his answer!

Then I began to wonder about how blind I might be to many other things. If I would just take the time to stop and ask, perhaps I would find out a great deal more about those I do my very best to try to please, especially God!

So I began to ask…”What delights YOU GOD?”

Here is what I discovered:

1. God delights in being loved.

Hosea 6:6 states this- “For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice..”

How amazing. God would rather have a relationship with me than celebrate what I can “do for Him.” Have you discovered that kind of love relationship with God? My prayer life is a very good indicator of whether or not I am “DOING” more than “LOVING.” To delight God...I must learn how to love Him. When I am in love, I want to please my lover. I want to please Him in all that I do. His word states that if I love Him, I will keep His commandments--not out of duty--but because I LOVE HIM! When I am not faithful to the good He desires for me, it breaks His heart. When I see my sin as breaking the heart of God, it changes everything. I no longer want to be rebellious. I want to mend and protect. Why? “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. That is sort of irresistible to me.

2. God delights in being known.

Hosea 6:6 goes on to state…”(I desire) knowledge of God rather than holocausts.”

Hmmm...how do I gain this, I asked? Through reading and studying His Sacred Word and asking Him to reveal truth about Himself in it to me. I love that He is not afraid to show Himself to me-- all of Himself, as best as I can grasp it. “When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me.” Jeremiah 29:13-14

He WANTS to be found, to be known, to be loved.

Interestingly...

God wants the same things I want--to be sought after, fully known and fully loved.

He wants me to come unashamedly to Him. He is not afraid of my sin. He can handle it. And unbelievably, He loves me still. If I can find my sins in His wounds, there they can be healed. He has already absorbed them, taken them into HImself and offers forgiveness and healing of them...He covers me. He took my nakedness and my shame upon the cross so that I do not have to hide from Him any longer. He extends to me His goodness and His righteousness in exchange for my nakedness, shame and guilt.

What a God!

How could I not want to delight Him? To love Him? To know Him? As He does me! And when I do...He might just surprise me.

Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire. Psalm 37:4

Dear Lord,

Wow! You are some kind of awesome God! How I long to delight You, to please You, to love You and to know You. Please increase this desire in my heart so that all of my life is spent in moments of delightful union with You. Thank You for allowing me to be delighted on this earth by many beautiful and awe-inspiring things that You have created...but may, in the end, they bring me back to loving You more and more. Please grant me the grace to always see the Creator in Your creation and may it overwhelmingly speak to me of the love and knowledge of You.

I ask this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.