“I delight to do Your Will, O my God; yea, Your Law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40:8
It could be called “righteous resonation.”
Have you ever noticed how couples, who’ve been married a long time and are still deeply in love, begin to resemble each other and almost seem to know what the other person wants before he or she says anything?
In reality, that’s the kind of relationship David’s describing in today’s Manna.
When he penned the lyrics for his “Song of Confession and Contrition” in Ps. 51, he said “You desire not sacrifice; else I would give it. You delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (vv.16-17).
Thus, when we’re “on the same page” with God, we need not wonder if our “sacrifices” will be acceptable or pleasing to Him (Gen. 4:3-4).
We’ll already know because we’ve spent time with Him and “hidden His Word in our hearts” (Ps. 119:11).
Yet, even then, if we don’t “delight to do His Will,” then we’ll find it oppressive or something we “have” to do “or else.”
But, dear Pilgrim, such an attitude wounds God’s Heart—even as trying to earn His Love or appeasing Him does.
The greatest joy in life is “knowing Him” (Phil. 3:10a) and the greatest privilege is being a “co-laborer together with Him” (I Cor. 3:9). Or, delighting in what delights Him. Just as it brings great joy to an earthly parent when his/her child obeys him/her WITHOUT being told or threatened, so does it bring great joy to the Heavenly Father’s heart when we obey Him simply because we love Him.
Yes, perfunctory service is putrid service; ritualistic worship is rotten worship.
How it thrills the Lord Jesus’ heart when we arise early in the morning to greet Him. How it delights Him when we say what He’d say or do what He’d do if He was still here on earth. In such surrender there’s sweet communion—causing the Holy Spirit to cry, “How sweet it is!” Hallelujah!!
Do you delight in Him, Pilgrim? Is serving Him the greatest joy of your life? If not, why not? Do you pour over the pages of His Word like a starving, dying-of-thirst man in the wilderness or is it something you do just because it’s expected of you?
David “delighted in the Lord” because of what He’d done for him (Ps. 40:1-3). That’s why he said “Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust and respects not the proud or acts as one who turns aside to lies” (v.4). That’s also why he wrote “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified’” (v.16). Why not pause right now and spend a few minutes loving on the Lord and letting Him love on you?
May 11, 2011
