Delight!

Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Ps. 37:4)

It's an unspoken tragedy for many western Christians: We don't know what it means to delight in God.

With our rationalistic mindset that emphasizes natural over supernatural, our "cultural Christianity" that prioritizes how God can help us with our goals, and the general perception that exuberance is for children, not adults, we are programmed for everything but pure, unfettered delight.

We love God. We obey Him. We may be radical and not just believe in Him, but truly believe Him. But we balk at unabashed delight.

Delight can be defined and described easier than it can be developed. The word means pretty much what you imagine: Strong's Concordance defines it in part as "to be happy about, take exquisite delight in, make merry over, make sport of". The picture we may get is one of a child's first taste of ice cream, or the squeal of delight when they discover the puppy on Christmas morning. It's joy that can't be held back.

But all that is theoretical unless we are able to develop delight. And there's the rub for many of us. How can we develop delight in God - apart from divine intervention? Part of it, of course, is divine intervention - the new heart that He gives us at salvation is hard-wired to long for Him. And yet He loves us enough not to short-circuit the process. He wants us to develop the relationship with Him - and part of the joy is in the journey.

If you've ever struggled to delight in someone that you loved dearly - a child, a spouse, a friend - you will find that some of the same relationship principles that develop delight in people will also strengthen your relationship with God. I'm listing a few that I've learned from experience. If you've become more focused on yoru tasks than on pure enjoyment of God, then my prayer is that this helps you recenter on the privilege of delight.

* Delight comes with time - specifically, spending lots of time together. Even if you fell in "love at first sight" with your spouse, likely the true delight came as you spent time together, seeing each other in different settings and truly enjoying the person you observed. It's the same with God. We have to spend lots of time with Him if we want delight to bloom.
* Delight comes with shared experiences. Part of my delight in the people I'm closest to is that we have been through a lot together. Laughing our way to McDonald's this morning to beat out a strong storm before work was a shared experience that caused me to delight in my husband's ability to make even stressful times fun. Likewise, I've grown to delight in God when we come through something together. But I have to communicate for that to happen. He's always there, of course - but He wants me to acknowledge the fact and let Him in on my life, much like a parent wants a child to tell them about the bad day even if the teacher already called.
* Delight comes with mutual goals. The people I delight in the most are those with whom I share similar passions, dreams, and goals. There is just something about working together for a common cause - the heart of the Greek word koinonia that our English "fellowship" has minimized to church socials. Indeed, probably the best tool for delighting in someone is to find a common interest. It's the same with God. If we want to delight in Him we have to share His interests, His heart. He is passionate for His glory. His heart is for the nations. He is interested in our spiritual progress. He intentionally builds His church. Those big-picture purposes go beyond the "failures" of today. If we get on mission with Him, building His church, spreading the Gospel to the nations, and meeting practical needs as a way to bless others around the world, we will find delight springing up unexpectedly!

Most importantly, undergird all of this with prayer. God wants us to delight in Him - He delights in us (Zeph. 3:17)! Pursue Him in these ways passionately - and ask Him to give you the delight for Him that He wants you to have.

Then get ready for joy you can't hold back.