God’s Delight in You: Embracing the Truth of His Unconditional Love
God’s delight in us feels far-fetched because we think he sees us only in our sin. But His love runs deeper than that!
A scripture that has been meaningful to me lately is Psalm 35: 27b,
“The Lord be exalted who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
Yet it’s easy for our minds to think,
But how can He delight in me? After all, I keep blowing it. I let Him down. I hurt others around me. I don’t follow through. I’m not all that loveable.
The fact that He delights in you and me is actually more about who He is than who we are or are not.
Two metaphors that may help grasp the idea of His pure delight.
If you are a parent, when was the last time you experienced true delight in your child?
Was it when your infant broke into a smile at seeing your face? Or when your teen conquered a challenge? Perhaps it was when you and your child laughed yourselves silly?
If we, as imperfect parents, experience delight in our child, how much more does our perfect heavenly Father take delight in us?
I have a golden retriever named Charley. Today as I sat in a chair, he stretched out a few yards from me. Occasionally, I glanced at him and his tail began to wag as he saw me look. When I turned my head away, it stopped. But if I looked at him again, He started wagging once more. He was taking delight simply in my noticing him. It brought Him JOY. This was a simple reminder to me that God delights when I focus on Him.
A lesson from my Dad:
I was the eldest of four children; strong-willed and not easy to raise. However, I remember on several occasions my Dad pulling me into his arms as he sat in his favorite easy chair and saying to me, “Susan, I love you so much.”
“Why Daddy?” I responded.
“Just because you are mine,” he replied.
It wasn’t because I had been good. More likely I had been naughty. It was simply because I belonged to Him. He delighted in me.
If my own imperfect Dad, living with all of my messes, felt this way about me, how much more does my heavenly Father want me to believe that He delights in loving me simply because I belong to Him?
It is hard to get our heads around this concept of His personal delight.
It is much easier for us to become distracted or to turn to the negatives. It’s even easy to assume we’ve heard all of this before and to dismiss it unconsciously. The reality is that we have to learn the same things over and over again throughout our lives.
Reaffirming His love is a helpful discipline for all believers.
Say out loud (and you could even write them down) the following affirmations:
- Heavenly Father right at this moment you are delighting in me. (Psalm 35:27b)
- You know me completely, even better than I know myself, and you love me without any conditions. (Psalm 139:1-10)
- No matter what is going on around me your LOVE will endure forever. (Psalm 136)
- You are taking delight in me and even singing over me! (Zephaniah 3:17)
My friend, you are deeply, deeply loved by our Lord and Savior.
In His Word
Read Psalm 103 today. Pause as you read each line. Feel His presence. Sit in His delight. Bask in these precious moments with Him. If you’re unable to feel His presence in your life right now, lay your transgressions at His feet. Perhaps an unconfessed sin is standing in the way. Pray to the One who created the heavens and the earth to be with you right where you sit.
If you’d like to take share this with your family, read it together. Afterward, have each person share the verse that is most meaningful to them and tell why.
In Your Life
Think about the scriptures above and other scriptures that are familiar to you and write down three affirmations that describe the heart of God which you want to focus on this coming week.
We Recommend
Susan’s book, One Devotional: One Word, One Verse, One Thought for One Hundred Days helps you to focus on the character traits of our amazing God. She also has essential books on parenting, grandparenting, and faith. Descriptions of each book are available on her site: susanalexanderyates.com.
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