Weapons of the Righteous – Delighting in the Lord

When I started doing ministry in Downtown Kingston, I was introduced to a food spot where I tried their chicken back, and after that, there was no turning back (no pun intended).  I loved it.  I would be home and suddenly realize that my mind had drifted off into dreaming about chicken back, whether curried or brown stewed, it didn’t matter.  I delighted in this delectable delicacy. Okay, so maybe chicken back is not a delicacy as it is one of the cheapest meals in Jamaica, and some folks may not want to say they eat it because there may be some shame associated with it. But, to the chagrin of those with refined palates, I must state that I have no shame, because it sure was delicious.  When I think about how much I have loved chicken back and dreamt about it, it brings me to a Psalm of David that says, taste and see that the Lord is good.  Please excuse me if you feel that I have somehow gone astray to draw an analogy of delighting in the Lord to chicken back, because there is seriously no comparison. Yet, how many of us delight in what seems inconsequential instead of our Lord? 

 

Psalm 37:4 has been one of my favorite verses as it says, delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Actually, this has also been a popular verse amongst some of the spiritually nefarious who have twisted this passage to make it seem that God will give us any and all of our desires, missing that our desires will be met after we delight in the Lord and when we are in His will.  It is conditional.  If I were to cook up some chicken back and do it my way, it would not have tasted as good as the Downtown Kingston chicken back.  Similarly, if we are to live our lives our way, then we may not be in the Lord’s will and are not truly delighting in Him.  Look at how we are supposed to delight in the Lord.

Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God. Isaiah 58:2

When we delight in the Lord, we seek Him first above anything else in order to have a deeper relationship with Him and to know His ways.  We will do what is right and it will be our joy to follow His commands because we love Him, even though what He tells us to do may be difficult and the circumstances we face may be challenging.  We will endure hardship to please God and to give Him the glory, and His joy will be our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).  Like Paul, we will rejoice in suffering for the sake of His people.  Praying His will comes automatically for us when we delight in Him and we will trust Him in whatever He does, while we bask in His presence and savor His word.

Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

The word of God will always be in our hearts and out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths will speak His words.  We will also delight in what delights Him – His Word, which we will meditate on day and night, so that we will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither, and whatever we do for the Lord will prosper (Psalm 1:2-3).  And, let us not forget that the Word is Jesus, and the streams of water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit flowing out of us to refresh others.  

I looked up the word delight on Blue Letter Bible and it comes from the Hebrew word ʻânag, which also means to be soft or pliable.  We are to be like putty in the Master Potter’s hands as He shapes us into the vessel He purposes us to be.  Sometimes He may have to pound us into shape because we are not surrendering to His will in certain areas of our lives, but He has a beautiful plan for us in all this pain. He wants us to understand that our desires are to come from Him and when our desires are aligned with His, He will give us the desires of our heart.  Nothing is supposed to come between us and our Lord.  Our desires should not become our idols that keep us away from the Father, for in Him there is fullness of joy and in His right hand there are pleasures forever (Psalm 16:11). 

When we delight in the Lord we can’t help but tell of His goodness to all who we encounter.  We praise Him knowing that He inhabits the praises of His people, not focusing on His benefits, but on Him. The shortest chapter in the Bible expresses the benevolent nature of our God.

Praise the Lord, all nations;
Laud Him, all peoples!
For His lovingkindness is great toward us,
And the truth of the Lord is everlasting.
Praise the Lord! Psalm 117

We praise Him for who He is – love, truth, the way, light and life itself.  This is why we should without reservation, praise the Lord and delight in Him, no matter how crazy we may look to others, we should leap and dance like David, even though it drew the contempt of His wife Michal.  Are you willing to become undignified and foolish for the Lord, and even humiliated in your own eyes?  That is truly delighting in the Lord.  How could we not delight in our God, who when we praise Him, sets up an ambush that makes our enemies flee?

We should delight in the Almighty and lift up or faces to God, longing to do His will, and our steps will be established by Him as He delights in our ways, because they are His ways.   The Lord should be magnified as He brings us into a spacious place and rescues us from our enemies because He delights in us. We love because God loved us first, and we delight in Him because He delighted in us first when He created man and said His creation was very good.  Also, Jesus chose us to go and bear fruit, so that the Father will give us whatever we ask using His name.  Why then do we spend money on things that do not sustain our souls and labor for what does not satisfy?  Let us feast in the abundance of God’s house, and drink from His river of delights for when we feed on His word, we will delight in His abundance, which is so much better than what the world could ever offer us.  Praise the Lord!!!  

Delightful Desires

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Psalm 37.  And, one of the verses often quoted from this chapter is:

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

It is no surprise that this is a favorite verse for many people.  I used to love quoting this verse and I still do.  But now, as I mature in my walk with Christ, its meaning is more profound.

Seriously, how many of us would desire to be humiliated, persecuted, wrongly accused or shunned?  Any   takers?  Well, when we desire to follow Christ, then we follow His way, which means we will often encounter much of what He did when He walked on this earth.

Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. John 15:20

I don't hear of many people naming and claiming persecution. On the contrary, we are believing for the luxury car, mansion and a fantastic lifestyle.  After all, they are rightfully ours, since we are royalty - children of the Most High King. Unfortunately, we fail to realize that God's kingdom is opposite of that of the world's.

Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.  2 Thesslonians 1:4-5

There goes all my mountaintop experiences.  You see, I would rather stay on the mountaintop where all is well and I can truly celebrate Christ for all He has done for me. However, it seems that Paul was saying that he was boasting of the perseverance of the saints while they were being persecuted and going through trying periods, and because of all this suffering, God judged them worthy of His kingdom.  

It is in these wilderness and valley experiences that our faithfulness and love for Christ are truly tested.   When we can love Him and praise Him, in spite of everything, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:17

These are the saints who will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Matthew 25:31 If we are not ready to serve and suffer, then we cannot be really called heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.  We want the prize without the pressure.  But, God has something else in mind for us.  He has His desires and it is for us to fulfill His vision.

We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people. --Oswald Chambers

When we delight in someone, we long to fulfill their will.  We become "soft" when we are in their presence and we are at their beck and call, ready to comply with any wish or command. Desiring to satisfy their desires, we will face unfavorable circumstances to give them joy.  When we make the decision to be God's vision, we should consider it pure joy to face trials of many kinds. (paraphrased, James 1:2) Then, we will become the Lord's delight.

For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Psalm 149:4

God delights in us when we are humble, righteous, patient during trials and trust completely in Him.  He will give us our crown of salvation, which we got in exchange for Christ's crown of thorns.  Lest we forget, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

The joy set before Jesus was giving us salvation. He delighted in us so much, that He looked beyond the pain of the cross, humbled himself and became the perfect sacrifice to save us from our sinful ways. Jesus' love for us made Him endure the cruelty of His crucifixion, so we could be partakers in His glory. 

Will our love for Jesus, give us joy to endure our cross? Are we truly ready to delight in the Lord, and become His delightful desire?

My Desire - Kirk Franklin & Fred Hammond