Delight (Part 2)

Yesterday I asked people to respond to this statement:

God delights in seeing us delighted.

Before I shared my thoughts and reflections on this, I was blessed to be able to hear some of your thoughts.  I agree with many of the responses that discussed how we as humans can “delight” in things that God really does NOT delight in.  However, my reflections have been more along the lines of some of you who shared that this serves as a reminder that God’s just not out to ruin our fun or command us into submission… He really does long to bring joy into our lives.

As I’ve journalled about this the last few days, and was reminded of a time when I wrestled with other similar thoughts, I was amazed to see a little more of God’s gracious, beautiful heart.  Here are some pieces of my prayer journal from the last few days in my wrestling with this concept:

“… in this I see that you desire to delight us.  It makes Your day to see us happy, content, and enjoying life.  You delight in seeing us delighted.”

“[In this situation], I was willing to follow out of obedience if that was Your will, but one of the ways I finally discovered it wasn’t was because there was duty alone, no joy.  When we are truly walking in Your will, there is always joy.  It may not always be happy and I may not enjoy it, but that’s where the difference between worldly happiness and Godly joy really shines.  While we can’t, and perhaps shouldn’t, always be happy, we can, as it suggests in scripture, ‘be joyful always.'”

“And perhaps Your will for us is NOT the last thing in the world we’d chose.  Really, if we dig down deep enough, if we’d let ourselves TRULY feel, and simply be the people You’ve created us to be, I think we might find that it’s the VERY thing we might choose.  For we were created to find delight in You.  Of course sin has messed that up and sometimes our selfish desires get in the way, but in reality, you made us to find joy in You.  Help me, God to seek Your will, which surprisingly sometimes actually DOES line up with what I’m thinking and feeling.”

I’m continuing to wrestle with this, and seeing what God has to say both in prayer and His Word.  I’d love to hear any more thoughts you all have now that I’ve shared some of my own!

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