This passage from Psalm 37:4 is a good one for me this week and maybe it will be for you as well:
Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
David's statement here in Psalm 37 literally means it is God's will for us to take great pleasure in him. It is not his plan that we just obey him and trudge along the road of faith, grimly trying to hold on until the end. Yes, we need to fear, honor, obey, serve and glorify God and at the same time, enjoy him.
David's words are in the form of an admonition or command. That would seem to indicate that enjoying God isn't always the natural thing to do, even by those who know him quite well. There are times when we just need to be told: "Look at life differently. Delight yourself in the Lord. Just enjoy him and what he is doing.
Someone may say, "But if you have to tell a person to enjoy something, isn't there something wrong with the picture?" Not really. At different times in my life, I have had friends tell me "Tom, what you need to do is go home and enjoy your family" or "What you need to do is take your wife to dinner and just enjoy her." These were always helpful challenges that brought good results.
We need to ask ourselves from time to time, "Am I enjoying God?" If we are not, we don't have to wait for some feeling to mysteriously wash over us or for the church to plan some special program. We can remind ourselves that our God is an awesome God, focus on the reasons that is true and decide that we are going to delight in him.
Focus Scriptures
1 Timothy 6:27
Command those who are rich in thie present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Psalm 28:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.
Wow. Thanks. Forgive such a generic comment but this was pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think that if we delight in Go he will either give us our current dreams or new ones we like events better
This is what I've been praying about this week. Sometimes I find myself just pouring out my needs on God when I pray. I've recently started praying to just know and enjoy him.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom, this for me is becoming the focus and foundation of my life as a disciple of Jesus. A couple of books that have really helped me with keeping my focus on my relationship with God and enjoying him, as the basis of my Christianity, not only in my "quiet" times but in the rest of day, are: "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller; and "Reading the Bible for the Love of God" by Alan Reynolds.
ReplyDeleteHi Tom! Thank you so much for this encouraging quiet time material. I was having it as my quiet time today & I noticed about the reference for 1 Timothy 6:27. Should it have been verse 17 instead? I thought it might be a typo.
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed day!
Love,
Maricar
thanks Tom for the reminder. I have notice when I am just enjoying God, I am more at peace, feel freer, can love others better and can delight in him as he wants us to. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving brother.
ReplyDelete