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Delight: to make you very happy

What are a few of your favorite things? (Anyone hear the classic melody from The Sound of Music in your mind while reading those words?)
What makes you sincerely happy?
What brings you the most joy?

I love Psalm 37. The author filled this psalm with reminders of God's promises to care for us. One verse in particular is highly circulated in the church circles, but it wasn't until recently that the depth and meaning of one of the words really struck me.

Ps. 37:4: "Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart."

What does delight mean? I mean I know what it means, but what is the actual dictionary definition?
I looked it up (ok, I googled it) and this is the definition I found...
"Delight: something that makes you very happy; something that gives you great pleasure or satisfaction." (i.word.com)

I love this definition of delight. Something (or could I interject someone) that makes me very happy. Does God make me very happy? Do I look forward to or take great pleasure in spending time with Him? These questions ran through my mind as I really chewed on this verse. In years past, I read this verse more like than an instruction--do this and you will get that. I know what my heart wants, so I just need to make sure I spend time with God to get it. This mentality was wrong. It is not about the other side of the equation. It is not about the thing I want that I think would make me happy. Instead it is about allowing God to know better than I do. It is about focusing on taking great pleasure in really knowing Him and spending time with Him. It is about knowing that HE makes me very happy.
As I have grown in my faith, I have come to the realization more and more often that the most important thing in this crazy life of mine is to really know Him--to really love to spend time with Him. He's not a genie or a wishing well. He's a real live identity who feels and speaks and desires to spend time with me. And as I spend time with Him, I find that He makes me very happy. And in making me very happy, He has changed the desires of my heart to things greater than what I ever thought could make me feel so satisfied.

"Delight yourself in the Lord..."
Now I read: Maria, let my presence and our relationship make you very, very happy, and I'll take care of the rest. Love, God.

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  1. DiwakarMarch 20, 2015 at 10:58 AM

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