Delight and Love

In Psalm 119:46-47 the Psalmist says, “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.” Once again, we find the concept of delight. When we delight in God’s Word, when we trust His promises, when we live in that freedom—it won’t matter who we stand before or talk to—it’s hard to be intimidated by man when you’ve been in the presence of the Sovereign God.

Kings or beggars, rich or poor, strong or weak; all must stand before God and if we have already been in His presence and if we know that Judgment is coming—how can we be bedazzled by the power of the world and let our faith shame us? Look at Jesus before Herod or Pilate, look at Paul before the governors, look at Daniel and his friends before the king…they stood in God’s Word and refused to be swayed because they delighted in it and in Him!

We close with something very similar to delight, at the end of verse 47 and verse 48, “…I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.” Obedience, freedom, delight…and love. These are results of God’s salvation.

The lifting of hands has many meanings in our culture as well as in the Bible:

We might lift our hand in court and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

We might lift our hands to bless.

We lift our hands in prayer and in worship.

The idea of lifting the hand speaks of helping someone.

It could also have the idea of surrender.

I’m not sure which one applies here…maybe a little of them all, but I tend to see this as worship…I lift my hands, I surrender to your Word, and I worship you because I love you.

I love you enough to think about you. While Kim was gone this summer to Costa Rica, I thought of her often…when I went home I was aware that she was not there, and I missed her…why, because I love her. When we love God, we will delight in Him, we will walk in His freedom, and we will obey Him.

I love you enough to be faithful to you. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We are also told, “And this love, not that we love God, but that He loved us.” When we see His great love, when we see it displayed on the Cross, when we see that it involved His death for our sin so that we could be free from the bondage of sin and live with Him for eternity…how can we not delight in Him and love Him?