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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Delight Me Lord


“How priceless is your unfailing love…
you give them drink from your river of delights.”
Psalm 36:7a-8b


I was very surprised to learn that the God of the universe wants to delight me! I was specifically created to bring pleasure to God but nevertheless, he enjoys delighting me. I have found that if I pay attention I will see more of the delights that God has for me.

This morning I awoke very early. The dawn was just lighting up the back yard. As I lay in bed a thought kept popping into my head. It seemed that the voice was soft; in fact it was no louder than a thought. The voice was saying, “Paula, get up I want to delight you.” I rolled over, snuggled under the covers, and tried to get back to sleep but the voice kept saying, “Paula, get up I want to delight you.” So finally, I gave in. I sat up and put on my furry slippers, grabbed my comfortably, worn robe and headed for the great room.

I glanced over to the windowed wall that provides a magnificent view of our wooded back yard. Ahhhhhh yes! To my utter surprise, there was my delight! While I was sleeping, God was busy dusting the entire backyard in a wet clinging, brilliantly white snow. The contrast of the pure white snow against the dark bark of the naked trees provided an incredible winter wonderland. The snow clung to the huge cedars, the evergreens, the bushes, and the picket fence. The yard itself was covered in God’s beautiful blanket of snow.

This was not a deep snow, only about an inch or two and I have learned that snow here in the North Carolina piedmont can be completely melted by early afternoon. No wonder God was nudging me out of my warm bed. If I had delayed I might have missed out on the delight that God had for me this day.

I poured myself a steaming mug of coffee, curled up in my chair, and began to enjoy the delight that God had sent to me. In a very few minutes more delights began to arrive as several bright red cardinals ate their breakfast from our feeder. It really was Christmas card perfect!

A little later my husband emerged from our bedroom and I shared my story with him. He grinned and accused me of selfishly keeping all of my delights to myself! But there was still time and God delighted him as well. God’s priceless unfailing love never tires of blessing his children from his endless river of delights.

I use to feel that God was too busy for me. That he was off somewhere far away where he was busy dealing with the really big stuff in life. I wasn’t even sure that God knew my name. I had received his gift of salvation but I really didn’t want to bother him with my insignificant life. But over the years God has blessed and delighted me in so many ways even without me asking. I have now come to know that my God is a God of surprises! He makes my life full and interesting. Some days God blesses me so much that I feel like I’m his only child. My God cares for me so much that he even wakes me up so that he can delight me the very first thing of the morning. Incredible! Simply incredible!

Questions:

Do you know that God loves and cares for you as if you were his only child?

Has God ever delighted you?

What was the occasion that you experienced His delight?

Have you ever told him thank you for the amazing delights that he brings into your life?

Prayer:

Dear God,

Thank you that you are such a personal God. I am flabbergasted that your love goes so deep that you desire to delight your children. Thank you for the many delights that you send my way. Help me God to be alert and observant so that I see all of the delights that you have for me. I don’t want to miss a single delight! I thank you God for the very visible pleasures that you send my way because they assure me of your unfailing love for me. How blessed I am that you desire to delight me.

In Your Son’s Name I pray. Amen.