GLEANINGS FROM THE SCRIPTURESDELIGHT IN THE LORD!By Keith L. EstesMost of us know someone who is delightful to be with. They are an encouragement to us and bring stimulating conversation as well as an excitement about life. We endeavor to respond in like manner. That can be, for all practical purposes, delighting in another person. King David makes this observation when he writes in Psalm thirty- seven, "Be delighted in the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart's desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it and he will." To delight in the Lord means that we need to direct our focus. David says that, "As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master...so our eyes look to the Lord." Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. What a person receives by delighting in many other things will only last a lifetime, perhaps. The reward we shall receive by delighting in the Lord will last forever, positively. David calls us to take delight in the Lord and to commit everything we do to him. But how do we do this? To delight in someone means to experience great pleasure and joy in his or her presence. This happens only when we know that person well. To commit ourselves to the Lord means we must entrust everything-our lives, families, jobs, and possessions to his control and guidance. Thus, to delight in the Lord we must know him. Knowledge of his great love for us will indeed give us delight. To commit ourselves to the Lord means to trust him believing that he can care for us better than we can ourselves. We should be willing to wait for him to work out what is best for us. There are promises and rewards to those who delight in the Lord. For example Psalm One states, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” The promise given in response to delighting in the Lord is mentioned in verse three, “And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” The reward promised is found in the twenty-third Psalm, “And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” The Psalter is first a living testimony to Israel’s faith in every era of Israel’s history. They reflect the hardships and struggles of God’s people. They show the pilgrimage from doubt to certainty in these critical centuries of God’s leading. They point always toward the conquest of despair by means of faith and delighting in the living God. I like what Oswald Chambers writes, "There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God's purposes, and yours may be that life." Delight thyself in the Lord! References: Psalm 37:4-5, 123:2, Life Application Bible and My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. |