Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “Waiting in the Crucible”. Thursday’s lesson asks the question, “what does it mean to ‘take delight in the Lord’?” A good question. Scripture enjoins us to also “call the Sabbath a delight” (Isaiah 58:13). Which begs the question, “how am I to do this? How am I to make myself ‘delight’ in anything? Either I feel this way or I don’t. I can’t control what I ‘delight’ in”. So, we should look at this idea of “delight”.
The definition of “delight” and its synonyms have all kinds of nuances. It means “pleased”. Or “grateful”. Or “satisfied”. It can also mean “persuaded by evidence”. All these add some explanation to the concept of “delight”. Are you pleased with God? Are you grateful for who He is and for all He has done for you, motivated by love for you? Are you satisfied with Him? Have you been persuaded by evidence to love and trust Him? If you say, “yes” to these things, then you do delight in Him… or are in the beginning stages of delight.
Think of how a baby delights you, especially if the baby is your own. A baby is responsive to you. Loves it when you are around. Loves being held and loves being cared-for. Isn’t this how you delight in God, too? We delight in the fact that we are His and He is ours. We delight in the fact that He responds to us and adapts His love to us… wherever we are. We delight in His continual presence. We love that He holds us and protects us… that He cares for us. In so many ways, the very attributes of God are like those of parents to their child. And we, as His children, delight in those same characteristics that children take delight in their parents. See, taking delight in God is as easy as taking delight in a loved and loveable parent.
So, once again we are faced with the heart of the issue. That core issue is… a loving relationship of mutual trust and trustworthiness… of mutual love given and love received… as between loving and caring partners/ friends/ spouse/ parent-child. This is the key to “delight”. The key to patience in the crucible of life. The key to learning the lessons the crucible brings forth. God is with us… in the crucible… always and forever. And we are a part of Him. We make think our life is our own. But it is not. Our life is part of Him. And if He wills that we are in a crucible and that we stay there… with Him, then we can trust Him, delight in Him. Delight, that He finds in us a genuineness and a quality that can be brought-forth by the fiery trials.
If we really know our Father, we also know He delights in us and we delight in Him. And with this understanding, this love relationship, we need not stress nor worry ourselves out of His hand… even in the crucible.
When David was rebuked by God for numbering the Children of Israel, God gave David a choice on what punishment David should receive. “So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, ‘Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.’ And David said to Gad, ‘I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man’” (2 Samuel 24:13-14).
A great answer by David… and so for us, too. David delighted in the Lord, because he knew God. He knew there was no safer place than in God’s hand. Do you know it? Do you delight in Him? To know Him is to love Him. So, if you do not delight in Him, it’s because you do not know Him as He is. Get to know Him as He is, and you will delight in Him. A simple formula. As simple as love.
With brotherly love,
Jim