“Then thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth…” Isaiah 58:14
Dear Ones:
One of the saddest effects of Adam’s sin concerns the subject of “delighting.” What does it mean to “delight thyself?” Most certainly, there is the element of knowing satisfaction, coupled with joy and blessing. But it goes beyond that, for it pertains to one’s highest and most noble desire. Before Adam sinned, his greatest delight was fellowship and communion with the One who was perfectly delightful, for there was in the Lord Jesus that One who was “Wonderful,” full of wonder, beauty, glory, goodness, perfect love. The list of the reasons for Him being Adam’s and Eve’s delight was beyond the span of their vocabulary, and ours, to describe. Just to be in His presence was pure delight. David gives us just a glimpse into this picture when he writes: “In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” (Ps. 16:11) He would go on to write: “How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God!” (Ps. 36:7) David’s perception of the beauty and wonder of Christ, and just the privilege it was to be in His presence, provides us just a glimpse of the object of our delight that He should be. When Adam sinned, the perception of his “delight” became clouded, and began to fade. Instead of the joyful wonder of delighting in the presence of the Lord Jesus, he would cower in the shadows, hiding himself in shame and guilt. His freedom in communion had been replaced by slavery to himself. Instead of delighting in that which was “high and lifted up,” he was forced to look down and within, dwelling on his pitiful, sinful self. However, even in the Garden of Eden, after the fall, the Father would provide for that slavery to be broken, so that fallen man could not only be redeemed from his lost state, but that, the vision in part could be restored. By grace Divine, man could again worship God in Spirit and truth, and “…behold the beauty of the Lord.” This would be by faith, according to the truth, as Christ would be revealed to the heart by the Spirit. So, practically, where does one begin in order to learn how to delight oneself in the Lord?
In Psalm 1, we read: “…but his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” (v.2) Here the Psalmist is talking about a man who is blessed of God, but one who has made certain significant choices with regard to that blessing. This man who has chosen to prefer the Scriptures, or Bible, above every other book on earth. For he is persuaded that God reveals Himself through the truth of Scripture. How can one “delight” oneself in someone that they do not know anything about in truth? It is as the truth of God is revealed in the word of God, that we begin to see the wonder of delighting ourselves in Him.
Secondly, Paul wrote the following in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. GOD HATH REVEALED THEM UNTO US BY HIS SPIRIT..” (2:9,10) Paul later declares that the Holy Spirit is that one who gives “wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Christ).” (Eph. 1:17) The Lord summed up the necessity of knowing the truth OF and ABOUT God, with the imperative of the working of the Spirit of God to reveal the LIFE of God to us, when He declared: “…”God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship him in Spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) If we would delight in the Lord, rejoice in Him, then we must know the truth about Him, and trust the Spirit of God to reveal the reality of His Person to our hearts.
Dear Father, give us a hungering and thirsting after You, to know the truth of Your Person, Thy Son, and the Spirit. Grant to us the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ,” that we may truly worship Thee in Spirit and truth. Then we shall “see” Him with the eyes of our hearts and spirits, and be overwhelmed by His beauty and grace, rejoicing and delighting ourselves in Thee. We thank and praise Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad