Delighting in God

Let’s go back to the CS Lewis quote I ended with yesterday,

“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”

We share what delights us, don’t we? Grandparents will bring out a picture of their grandchild before you can blink…I know, I’m one of them. Why is that? Because we delight in them. As we close out this section of Psalm 119, I think we have to really consider the level of delight we have in God.

The psalmist says I will delight, in verse 14, “In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.” The pleasures that come from a renewed heart will be a settled delight in God’s Word.

You’ll want to hear it,

you’ll want to read it,

you’ll want to memorize it,

you’ll want to meditate on it,

you’ll want to study it,

you’ll want to hear it taught,

you’ll want to teach it.

Luther’s church pastors preached on Sunday at 5 am on one of Paul’s letters, then again at 10am with a sermon from a Gospel, then an afternoon message from the OT or catechism, then he preached again on Mon. and Tues. on the catechism, Wed. on Matthew, Thursday and Friday on Paul’s letter again, and Sat. on the Gospel of John…today’s church is full on Sunday morning, a quarter of that crowd shows up in the evening, and half of that shows up on Wed.

I’m not suggesting that we go back to that schedule, but shouldn’t we devote more time to the study of God’s Word with the people of God?

Delight in God’s Word will impact the books you read, the things you watch, the things you listen to…it will impact your conversation, your thoughts, and your actions. The Word of God is God’s Word and should be our delight because it is a letter from Him. He delighted in it so he said, “I will not forget your word.”

I have a short attention span when someone is telling me something my brain does not register as important and so do you. When God’s Word is valued and when we delight in it…

we will do whatever it takes to remember it.

We will guard our lives by it,

we will seek it wholeheartedly,

we will hide it in our hearts,

we will ask God to teach us so we can understand it,

we will rejoice in it,

we will meditate on it,

we will fix our eyes on it,

and we will do it because it leads us to Him!

Do you see it? When we value Him above all else—we will value His Word because it is only in His Word that we can know Him.

Let me make it personal. Eight years ago, I sat in a hospital beside my dying mother. I didn’t think about Auburn, about money, about politics, about meetings at church, or anything else…I thought about people—the people I loved the most, I thought about Heaven, I thought about Glory, and I thought about relationships.

When it looked like Mom was going to be gone within a few days…everyone was gathered and when our family gathers it is loud…everyone finally left and it was just me and mom…I took out this living Word and read it to my dying mother…she wasn’t responsive, but I just felt like she could hear me…I read Revelation 4 and 5, I read Isaiah 6, and then I read Psalm 23 and as I read I thought about what her blue eyes would soon see.

I drove home late that night…I turned off the radio and thought about the things of God, about eternity, and I prayed for God’s mercy—the mercy to let her come Home and to suffer no more. God was merciful and answered that request the next morning.

It’s moments like that, that cause you to reflect on wasted time, wasted energy, and wasted effort…let’s not waste another moment:

let’s take moments to turn off this world,

to open up God’s Word,

and let’s pour it in—so that as we go back into this world we can make an eternal difference.

I find the Instagram/Tiktok world to just be proof of what the psalmist said and of what CS Lewis said. I watched people taking photos at Yosemite. Climbing on rocks, posing, and looking at the picture intently. ((As the father of four daughters I’ve learned to simply not be the one who takes their picture!)). I’m not claiming to be superior to them, but I took pictures of the scene and the beauty while it seemed that many were taking pictures that focused more on them being there. Why?

For some, pictures are taken because we want to remember the beauty and share it. For others, it can be a self focus, look at me…I’m here! I never know what the person is thinking, but I do laugh because it is a habit of people from all walks of life and from all nations.

I just want to close by pleading with you and myself…let’s get the attention on God and His beauty. I was at Glacier Point last week, trying to get to a place to take a picture, and as I walked about 15 feet I heard three different languages. It dawned on me, people came from all over the world to see beauty. Church, would the world be more interested in Jesus if we simply made His beauty known?

The picture today is simply called “The Tunnel View.” You come through the tunnel and this what is before you. It’s Yosemite Valley with El Capitan on the left, Half Dome, and Bridalveil Falls on your right. I remember the first time I saw it…it was breathtaking. Last week, we drove through that tunnel five times in five days and it was breathtaking every single time.

Morning after morning as I read the psalms God’s Word takes my breath away. I do this blog simply because I want others to see His glory and share it.