“He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me—in fact, the Lord “greatly delights” in all of his people. (Ps.18:19, Zeph.3:17).
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
Dear Lord Jesus, we love you only because you first loved us. That is bottom line and core Gospel reality. But to delight in you—that is a special place of freedom and joy requiring the work of the Spirit and our glad surrender.
Delighting in you… what an image and invitation: Not a polite, restrained, respectful, offend-no-one relationship with you. Rather an unfiltered, unfettered, unrestrained relationship with you born out of your delight in us.
We love to delight—and it is to your glory that we experience and express delight. We delight in our grandchildren—even in our pets; in fly fishing and trout catching; in savory meals and beloved friends. We delight in Montana skies, Maine lobsters, Vermont Smallmouth, and Northwoods rhubarb pie, Blue Ridge apple smoothies, Florida Gulf seafood—to name a few.
But we long for our greatest delight to be in you—in you personally, Jesus, not just in what you give us. For you don’t just satisfy us; you enthrall us. For you are the entire banquet and orchestra, the magnificence and meaning, the summum bonum and whole enchilada of life. Your love doesn’t just warm our hearts; it is “better than life” (Ps. 63:3). More than just giving us life—you are our life (Col.3:4).
The “place of safety to which you have led us” (Ps.18:19) is the Gospel and our permanent address is “in Christ.” Jesus, in union with you we have everything we need and more than we can imagine or hope. You are the deepest desire of our hearts; become the greatest delight in our lives. So Very Amen.
