delight yourself

What do you delight in?

As someone who can live too much on the sunny side of life, I have much to delight in:  "let me tell you about my grandchildren!", fluffy snow on a sparkling day, dogs with friendly faces, eating at an Indian restaurant with my daughter... The list could go on and on.

But do we delight in the Lord?  The Scripture encourages us to take delight in Him, literally to be happy about Him, soft towards Him, and find exquisite joy in Him.  David in Psalm 37:4 writes, take delight in The Lord.

I love God, I honor Him, I worship and serve Him.  But do I delight in Him at least as much as my endless list of delights? 

If I don't, perhaps it's because modern translations might imply that, for me to delight in The Lord, there needs to be something delightful about God or what He is doing for me that I can readily apprehend.  Objectively, this is so.  However, at times, such as when one is being unpleasantly disciplined by Him, there is no subjective delight readily to be found.

Earlier translations rendered the command to delight in a reflexive fashion: delight yourself in The Lord, meaning to find deep pleasure, satisfaction, and joy within oneself in God.  If we are in The Lord, and The Lord is in us (John 17:21-23), then He has placed His Delight in us:  The Lord your God is with you...He will take great delight in you (Zephaniah 3:17).  As we pause to remind ourselves of His Presence with us and in us, His Delight in us will rise up in us, aligning our feelings, thoughts, and actions with His.

And then the promise offered by David - delight yourself in The Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart - will come true as our feelings, thoughts, and actions become aligned with His, to His Great Delight, and ours.

So, right now, for at least a moment, delight yourself in The Lord.