True Delight
Find your delight and true pleasure in Yahweh, and He will give you what you desire most. Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust Him along the way, you'll find He pulled it off perfectly! Psalm 37:4-5 (TPT)
Insight
What do you delight in the most? What is your primary source of pleasure? These are critical questions to ask—the answers reveal who or what directs our decisions and defines our identity. Humans crave pleasure, and we often orient our lives in pursuit of it. The source of our delight is often the first thing we think of when we wake up and the last thing we think about before we go to sleep. The source of our joy is the thing we bow down to and serve. When we reflect and name the chief provider of our pleasure, we see if we are placing God at the center of our lives or remaining loyal to our idols.
If we find our delight in academic or vocational achievement, our craving for success will guide our choices. Our time will be swallowed whole by our striving. Our relationships will fall to the wayside as we place our to-do list over the call to love God's children.
If we find our pleasure in being a parent or a significant other, our ability to "perform" in these relationships will determine our self-worth. God's commands will come second to our need to please and appease others.
If we find our delight in external validation, the need to impress others and live up to societal expectations will shape our lives. As a result, we end up spending ridiculous amounts of time, money, and brain space in pursuing the perfect body or reputation.
God is the only genuinely sustaining source of pleasure. True joy evades us when we try to get pleasure from worldly things. Contentment becomes a moving target, a finish line we can never reach. When our Heavenly Father is the wellspring of our delight, our hearts can be fully satisfied, even when our circumstances are difficult.
He is the One behind all the smaller pleasures we get to experience. The things we tend to idolize are good because the One who created them is good—they only become problematic when they take the throne in our lives.
Finding our delight in God cannot be the prerequisite for letting Him lead our lives. We love to convince ourselves that we will let Him direct our decisions once God pleases us enough. However, we only discover how good God is when we submit to Him as King. When we let Him define our choices, we see how trustworthy and excellent He is! Following His direction always leads to goodness, in our lives and in the lives of others.
Finding our delight in God often begins with finding the discipline to obey Him.
Walking with God often starts as a discipline, becomes a desire, and, at long last, the delight of our lives.
Reflection
What is the source of your pleasure in this season of life? Is it truly satisfying you?
Reflect on a time when you allowed God to direct a decision. How did you see His goodness on display when you let Him be the King that He is?
Prayer
Father, You are so pleasing to my soul! You are so, so good! You are the One I was created to live for and the only place I will find true delight. Today, help me to identify who or what I am worshiping as my source of pleasure. Remind me that the little pleasures I make into idols will never make me as content as You can. Show me how to delight in You with my whole heart. Remind me that to see how good You indeed are, I have to let You guide my decisions. I will delight in You more when I see how loving Your commands truly are. Help me to submit to You today so that my joy, and the joy of those around me, might flourish. Amen.
Port City writer Kate Redenbaugh wrote today's devotional.