Delight
Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
There is a wonderful dessert called “Cherry Delight.” What’s not to love about it? Graham crackers, butter, and sugar topped with cream cheese, whipped topping, and powdered sugar and smothered with cherry pie filling. Sweet fluffy goodness that melts in your mouth and clings to your hips! Don’t even attempt to calculate the grams of sugar!
Cherry Delight is a perfect example of the temporary satisfaction Satan and the world offer us. We look forward to it with great anticipation. We delight in the texture, the sugary sweetness, and the creamy melt-in-your-mouth decadence. This is momentary pleasure at its finest.
I have been trying to diminish my sugar intake. This works great most days until I am tempted by Cherry Delight. Or cookies. Or carrot cake. Or sugar-coated snack mix. Temptation lurks around every corner. Indulgence calls my name.
Then comes the moment of truth. The sickening feeling in my gut. The telltale numbers on the scale. Lethargy. Naps. I seldom get a “sugar high.” It’s more like a coma. My body starts craving vegetables. Or salt. Or crunch. Or all of these.
Isn’t this just like a trick of the Devil? We start by craving the “forbidden fruit,” give in to indulgence, and end up in disgust and abhorrence that we would be so careless. Craving is exactly what led Eve to disobey. Self-indulgence. Self-gratification. Selfishness.
Genesis 3:6, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good…and pleasant…and desirable…she took!”
God’s Word is all this…and more. In Psalm 19:7-10 David wrote about all the characteristics of God’s Word. It is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and altogether righteous.
Furthermore, because of these characteristics, God’s Word provides the following benefits:
Restores and refreshes the soul
Makes wise the simple (gives understanding)
Brings joy to the heart
Enlightens the eyes
Just like the “forbidden fruit” that tempts us, God’s Word is good, pleasant, and desirable. In fact, verse 10 states, “They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” (AMP)
Why do I not find myself diligently searching out these sweet tidbits of truth? Why do my eyelids often get heavy while trying to read Scripture? Why do I seem to find more joy in sugary indulgence than in the sweet honeycomb of God’s perfect food for my soul?
Could it be misplaced delight? In 1980 a country song spoke of “lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.” (Don’t ask me how I know about this song. LOL)
Could it be that I am trying to satisfy the longings of my soul with comfort food instead of spiritual food?
Could it be that I delight to connect with a friend more than I desire to connect with God?
Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
Psalm 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
Verse 1 tells us what the blessed (happy, delighted) person does NOT do. Then verse 2 states the replacement principle, the positive antidote to ungodly counsel, sinful ways, and scornful attitudes.
We read in 2 Chronicles 17:6 (NKJV) concerning King Jehoshaphat, “And his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord; moreover, he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah.”
Delighting in the ways of the Lord requires action. We must remove all the obstacles to our worship (distractions or substitutions). We must study His Word if we are to learn His ways. We must prepare our hearts.
Marriage vows usually include a promise to “forsake all others, and to cling only and always to him/her.” God often uses the comparison of the marriage relationship to refer to our relationship to Him. We are the Bride of Christ. We should find all our delight in Him, the object of our devotion, the One we desire to please above all others.
Before we can expect to realize our desires, we must find our delight in the Lord. Too often our thinking is more likely to be “if God would just give me what I desire, then I will be satisfied with Him.”
GOD ONLY GIVES US
WHAT WE WANT
WHEN WHAT WE WANT
IS WHAT HE WANTS.
God wants us to delight in Him.
God’s promise to fulfill the desires of my heart is contingent on my delighting in Him.
Lord, help me to crave Your Word and Your Presence
more than I desire to ingest Cherry Delight!!!
