Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your heart’s desires. (Ps. 37:4)
Recently, I have been doing a lot of study pertaining to our thoughts and the mind. In a short span of time, I have read Breaking Free by Beth Moore, Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer and Heart Made Whole by Christa Gifford. (All excellent reads!) God is bringing me through the process of rewiring my brain, in order that old pathways of fear and insecurity can be rerouted in the ways of faith, expectation and unconditional love.
Through this process, God continues to speak to me of His great love for me. He loves me for the sake of loving me. I am guilty of coming before God always trying to improve something, change something, do something, but God is showing me over and over again that He simply desires to hang out with me, because He delights in me. In Psalm 149:4-5, we are told, “For the Lord delights in His people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.”
This understanding has deepened my level of intimacy with Christ. Although I continue to study the word, pray and worship, (all necessary, vital and of utmost importance), I also take time to sit with Jesus, to admire the beauty of creation with Him, to go for walks together and to sit in silence, knowing He sits with me. There have always been painful things in my life I have needed to confront. There has always been some degree of chaos around me. The problem is I have too often been guilty of letting the chaos going on around me get inside of me. Too many times I have allowed circumstances and people to rob my joy. This knowledge of the God who so immensely enjoys me, empowers me to have a good day no matter what situation I am facing. I made a decision recently that no matter what goes on around me, I would make the choice to choose joy, even if that means getting away from the crowd to enjoy a sunset with Jesus, after a long stressful day. It fills my heart with joy, acceptance and belonging to know that He doesn’t require me to come with words, a plan or a course of action. He just wants me to come with my heart, in whatever shape that it’s in, so He can mend any places it has been torn and give strength to those parts that have been made weak.
I put this to the test the other day. Due to some circumstances outside of my control, I was up all through the night. I felt angry, worried, exhausted, you name it. After finally getting some sleep. I got up and decided in my heart what kind of day I was going to have. My day would be a good day. Because I was going to spend it with Jesus. I got together with a really good friend of mine who asked me what I wanted to do. Although I really wanted to visit a beautiful park I had heard of and never been to, I told my friend we should go to the orchard that was closeby. The park was a long drive away and I figured it would be more convenient to go to the orchard instead. We stopped by the orchard but didn’t stay very long. My friend said we should leave. Not thinking too much of it, I got back into the car. Next thing I knew, we were on a long drive thorugh the country. I let all my circumstances melt away and began to reflect on God’s goodness and love towards me, as I watched the sun shine through the trees. I took in all the beauty and allowed myself to let go, relax and rest in Jesus. I felt Him massaging my heart back to good health and felt truly joyful. Although I enjoyed the time with my friend, I so enjoyed knowing that Jesus had made that trip with us. Eventually, the car turned into the very park I had wanted to visit, but had never expressed. Jesus had used my friend to give me that gift. Everything about my day perfectly met my heart’s desires. From the beauty of the park, to the places we stopped on the way home, to the flavor of ice cream I ate, I felt that God had designed it all to show me His love in a special way. He delighted in being with me throughout the day and setting up these fun surprises.
It tells us in Psalm 37:4 that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. When our delight is God, He gives us more of Himself. He gives us more of an understanding of who He is, His nature and His heart towards us. He gives us a greater desire and capacity to know Him better. The more He becomes our delight the less other things will be able to take away our joy. When your joy is in the one who will never leave you or forsake you, the one who remains the same yesterday, today and forever, you are undaunted and unshakeable. And while things won’t always go the way we thought or planned, and while we will have those hard, tough days, this God delights in surprising us. He takes joy in making our dreams come true, dreams He gave us to begin with. He loves to draw us to Himself, wooing us and romancing us. His heart is always to do in our lives more than we can ever dare, ask, think or imagine (Eph. 3:20).
Make Him your delight. Enjoy Him with every breathe. Open your eyes to His love notes all around you. Find yourself in the center of His heart.
