Is It Delightful?

         In my morning devotions a couple days ago I was in Psalms 119. As I was reading over and over the same phrase kept being repeated again and again. David was talking, and these phrases kept jumping out at me: "I will delight myself in thy commandments", "thy law is my delight", "thy testimonies are my delight". Then I realized, THIS is one of the reasons why David was called 'the man after God's own heart' in Acts 13:22b "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will." I believe one of the reasons David was known as 'a man after God's own heart' was because David delighted to obey God's commandments, and loved His law (Bible). To delight is defined as 'something that gives great pleasure'. It gave David great pleasure to simply obey the Lord. Why? Because David had such a close walk with God, that when He displeased the Lord it broke his own heart. How sad it is when we obey God because it is our duty, and not because it is our pleasure to obey Him!
          As a parent, when you give your child something to do, it makes you very happy if they jump up with a smile on their face, and quickly go and do what you tell them to do with a pleasant attitude. In my mind I see this as the same way.
          Delighting in the Lord's commandments was a way of life, not just an occasional thing when he was in a good mood. Psalm 119:143 "Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights."  When David was running from Saul, he still delighted to obey the Lord. Oh how I desire to please my Savior and not just obey because it's what I'm supposed to do, but to delight in doing what He commands. There is a difference. You can obey God without taking pleasure in what He commands you to do. God wants all of us, including our hearts, just obeying with our bodies and leaving our hearts out of it is not what God desires.
         Does our love for the Lord go deep enough to delight, or take pleasure, in obeying Him? I Jn 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." Does it break your heart when you displease the Lord, or even just do what you are supposed to do with the wrong attitude? Another thing that impressed me was Psalm 119:136 "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." How do you feel when someone hurts your husband, children, sibling? David had such a close walk with the Lord that he knew how much it hurt the Lord when others chose to disobey him, that he actually cried for the Lord. Does it break our hearts to see others disobey, or walk away from the Lord?


     

         

**This post goes along with my last post, but reading this chapter this past week in my devotions, made me see just with how much emotion David spoke with in these words. He understood just how important Gods Word was, and had a deep relationship with the Lord! David has always been one of my favorite characters in the Bible, because of his sincere devotion for the Lord. Yes David seemed to fall away at the end of his life, but the Lord still thought enough of Him to inspire Paul to call him 'a man after his own heart'. I have so much work to do in my own life, but I SO desire for the Lord to look down on my life and to be pleased with what He sees. I encourage you to read Psalms 119 sometime, and pay attention to David's emotion in this chapter. See how much He loved the Lord, and how many times he talks about loving and delighting in the Lord's commandments. I hope it touches and convicts you as much as it did me! :)