GOD'S DELIGHT IN ME
by
Carol Daehnert
For some time God has been immersing me in a truth that is extraordinary to me. The Psalmist states that God "led me to a place of safety, for he delights in me." (Psalms 18:19) To love me is one thing, but to "delight in me"....that is almost incomprehensible.
I have had my precious granddaughter for a week. Needless to say, I can say I delight in her. She is perfect! But for God to feel that way about me...
Oh yes, maybe when I've done something nice for someone, I dust off my wings and feel worthy of His love and adulation. But then there is the other side of me which is pretty self-absorbed. I so easily lose my "cool" when my dog tramples through my new flower bed, or, at the drop of a hat, I can make a cutting remark about someone. Then I see myself as the unlovely creature that I am and imagine God's frowning at me, not delighting in me.
However, If I am to believe the truth of God's word in its entirety, I must accept the remise that He loves and values me because of Whose I am, not who I am. Even when I exercise less than perfect obedience, He is not keeping a heavenly scorecard to determine if my goodness outweighs my sinfulness. In fact His focus seems to be on our relationship. He has a desire for me to know Him and to love Him more than anything else. He wants to have fellowship with me. I think His delight in me must come when He senses my genuine desire to be obedient to Him, to keep our relationship open and nurtured.
This means I have to spend time with Him. In order to facilitate that, I try to keep a blocked-off time period each morning where we can communicate through His Word and through prayer. Something else I've found helpful personally is to journal my special concerns. It serves as a marker of my spiritual journey and lets me look back at where I've been.
The time I spend with Him seems to produce a wonderful by-product. The more I know Him, the more I love and want to please Him. As a result, I find myself more loving, compassionate and forgiving towards the people around me. I know that would never come naturally from me.
This concept of God's delighting in me I may never fully understand. However, the joy I experience in knowing it is a foretaste of eternity that I can share in now. That is good news!