Delighting In The Lord

Delighting in the Lord

Ps 37:4[1]

5-29-05

Intro

I want to introduce the message this morning with a clip from the movie, “What About Bob?”

Ch 9: (0:49:36) to (0:51:22)

Our subject this morning is: Delight yourself in the Lord. Bob’s attitude toward his meal gives us some idea of what it means to delight yourself in the Lord. For Bob supper was not an inconvenience or duty. It was a delight. He pursued it with a passion. He was not afraid to express his appreciation for what he received. He was so caught up in enjoying the food that little else mattered. Everybody around him knew that he was enjoying that meal.

Are you enjoying God? Are you enjoying all the trimmings? By that I mean the things that please God—the things that God provides to you—the word He speaks into your heart—and the fellowship you have with Him. I want to be a person who lives in a state of delight.

Our thought this morning comes from Psalm 37:4 where David said, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Have you learned how to do that? In your experience is God a delight or a duty? How many have discovered that delight is a better motivator than duty.

When people view God and church as just a duty to be performed, what happens? They slowly reduce their involvement to a bear minimum. Churches all over America are a living testimony to that fact. For a very large number of people, Christianity is a two hour commitment per week—and some of them are hardly awake even during the two hours. There are 168 hours in a week. So those two hours equal less than 2% of the person’s time. That’s what duty leads to. And that’s why our text focuses upon a higher motivation than duty. “Delight yourself in the Lord…”

How do we do that?

1st Know that you were created for such delight.

When God created Adam, He demonstrated considerable concern for Adam’s enjoyment. He placed Adam in a garden—not a wilderness. He provided for Adam all the trees of the garden and the fruit of those trees for his enjoyment. There was only one tree denied Adam—and even that tree provided Adam with something. It provided him the opportunity of choosing to live in obedience to God. Have you discovered the joy of pleasing God with your choices? When we live to please ourselves something kind of dies within. There may be temporary pleasures in living for one’s own enjoyment—but there is not lasting, abiding joy. I believe as long as Adam said no to the forbidden tree he enjoyed the inner affirmation of living in obedience to God.

There is Adam in the Garden. God has given him a perfect environment. God gives him work that is affirming and meaningful. He is a gardener for God. He is privileged to do a work that God has assigned him to do. And I am quite sure he was delighting in that assignment. Have you ever had an assignment from the Lord that you knew without a doubt came from Him? There is something very energizing about that. What a joy it is to make yourself available to God for His service—and then God take you up on the offer. Sent by God—that is a powerful statement.[2] Jesus was sent by God and was energized by doing the will of the Father. Remember what he told the disciples in John 4? Verses 31-34 “31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” The work (God gave Adam to do) yielded something in his soul that was absolutely wonderful. For Adam dressing that Garden was a delight much more than a duty.

Look closely at Genesis 2 and you will see God’s supreme interest in Adam’s joy. God did not just produce a work animal in Adam because He needed someone to take care of His Garden. [3] God took delight in Adam and took joy in providing him everything he needed for living life to the full. God looked at Adam there in the Garden. He saw him as something good—the pinnacle of His creation.[4] He placed him over all the earthly creation. But He saw something missing in Adam’s life. Listen to what God said in Genesis 2:18 “The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." You know what followed that observation. Genesis 2:21-23 “So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ’woman,’ for she was taken out of man."